News Analysis India

Tag: Anti Naxal operations

  • ‘Big’ anti-Naxal operation on the cards, forces to resume two-pronged offensive against Naxal: Home Ministry

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: With the rains coming to an end, and the visibility in the densely forested jungles increasing, the forces are ready to resume their two-pronged strategy against Naxals – penetrating deeper into Naxal strongholds and setting up security camps.

    Sources in the Home Ministry also told The New Indian Express that “big” anti-Naxal operations could be on the cards in states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Odisha, where the red extremists are still present in substantial numbers.

    Forces are eyeing a target of setting up as many as 24 Forward Operating Bases (FOBs), including ten in Chhattisgarh, seven in Maharashtra, six in Jharkhand and one in Odisha, before the year-end.

    Besides these 24 camps, the government is also mulling a few more camps in Jharkhand and Odisha, a senior government functionary said, adding that the idea is to corner Maoists by opening up new police and paramilitary camps to cut down the area of Maoist influence to a minimum and then go out after big Maoist leaders.

    “CoBRA, CRPF’s anti-Naxal specialized wing, in coordination with various state police forces is closely monitoring the movement of Maoists especially the senior rank holders. The strategy is to tighten the noose around Maoists by expanding the network of security camps, especially in core Naxal areas. With the rains now over, the work on security camps has already been expedited. Big anti-Naxal operations would follow thereafter,” said a senior CRPF official who is deployed in Chhattisgarh.

    A senior intelligence official in New Delhi said that wanted Maoist leader Madvi Hidma, along with about dozen armed Maoists was seen near Sulenga and Grda villages in Dantewada district around two weeks ago.

    After the 2017 Burkapal encounter, security forces are employing various strategies to counter the influence and movement of Maoists. There has been a steep decline in violence levels as well as the geographical spread of Left-wing extremism in the country over the past decade.

    The number of affected districts identified under the security-related expenditure (SRE) scheme came down to 70 in July 2021 from 126 in April 2018. Even the most-affected districts declined to 25 in July 2021 from 35 prior to April 2018 with these districts accounting for 85% of the Naxal violence in the country. 

  • INTERVIEW| COVID pandemic hit anti-Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh: DGP DM Awasthi

    Express News Service

    DM Awasthi, the Chhattisgarh Police head, who is considered to be an expert on Left Wing Extremism, has seen  LWE from close quarters for years as the Special Director General for anti-Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh.

    In an interview to The New Indian Express’s Sana Shakil, Awasthi said that COVID-19 did affect operations against the Naxals. He defended his force against the charges of going slow on Naxals and expressed hope that several successful operations against the extremists will be carried out in the near future.

    Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel has talked about the possibility of talking to Maoists, if they surrender their weapons. Do you see any progress on that front?

    The governments at the Centre and at the state have always expressed willingness to talk to the Naxals if they give up arms. The Naxals put up various conditions like imposition of ceasefire, and release of their cadre from jails.

    Those conditions are not acceptable. One has to work within the ambit of the Constitution as the chief minister himself recently stated. Not just the governments but civil society members have also been trying to engage with the Naxals. The purpose is to ensure peace in the state. Nothing like it, if we achieve peace through non-violent means.

    Official data show that the number of operations has gone down. According to the CRPF, the police have gone slow on operations. Your response.

    There is no lack of coordination and cooperation between the police and the central forces. Local police cannot be accused of going slow on Naxal operations. There are reasons why fewer operations were carried out over the last two years.

    We have to take into account the effects of the pandemic, which affected our force. COVID has been a major challenge. I do not believe in conducting operations for the sake of numbers. Operations should result in success, and we have maintained a great success rate. We are confident of more successful operations in the near future.

    Is the government planning to introduce any new initiative to encourage more surrender?

    We recently reviewed our state surrender policy under which we have provided jobs to many Naxals. We are going to strictly monitor the implementation of the policy. When more people get rehabilitated, more get encouraged to surrender. Chhattisgarh has a very attractive policy. We will ensure better enforcement of the policy.  

    Have drone sightings increased in Naxal areas?

    We have not noticed anything alarming on that front.

  • Afghan-returned ITBP canines to now serve in anti-Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Three combat canines who were part of the ITBP commando security contingent in Afghanistan will soon be deployed with the border guarding forces’ anti-Naxal operations unit operating in Chhattisgarh, officials said on Wednesday.

    The three dogs — Roobi (a female Belgian Malinois breed), Maya (female Labrador) and Bobby (male Doberman) — have been sent to a special dog kennel at the ITBP camp in south-west Delhi’s Chhawla area after they landed at the Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad on Tuesday onboard a special military evacuation flight from the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

    The dogs served for about three years with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) commando contingent that guarded the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan capital Kabul and its diplomatic staff.

    “The three dogs detected many improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and protected the lives of not only Indian diplomats but also the local Afghan civilians working in the embassy. They will soon be deployed with ITBP units undertaking anti-Maoist operations in Chhattisgarh,” an official source said.

    The dogs were raised and trained at the ITBP national training centre for dogs (NTCD) in Bhanu near Chandigarh before being sent for the overseas duty.

    The dogs were part of the 150 member Indian contingent, including 99 ITBP commandos, that took an IAF aircraft on Tuesday morning from the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul to reach Hindon via a refuelling halt at Jamnagar in Gujarat.

    With this de-induction, the entire strength of the force, that is primarily tasked to guard the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, has been withdrawn from that country including all the diplomats and Embassy staffers.

    India had deployed over 300 ITBP commandos for securing its Embassy, consulates and diplomats in Afghanistan. It was first deployed to secure the premises of the Kabul Embassy and its residents in November, 2002.

    It later sent its additional detachments to similarly guard Indian consulates located in Jalalabad, Kandhar, Mazar-e-Sharif and Herat.

    The detachments from the consulates have already been withdrawn after they were shut recently due to the current crisis in the country and also due to negligible footfall as the coronavirus pandemic gripped the globe.

    Some of the commandos came back from Kabul in earlier flights.