New Delhi: A security officer has
recommended creation of counter insurgency grid of anti-Naxal
forces across the Moist-affected states under a unified
command of a single empowered post of a director general in
central paramilitary forces.
Maintaining that a "pan India" approach should be adopted
along with sustained development of the affected areas, he
said "piecemeal and sporadic campaigns will surely fail
miserably".
"It is true that law and order is a state subject, but
the Centre cannot wash its hand of, especially in areas where
there is no law and order left and the affected states are
asking for help," said Col JK Achuthan, who has been actively
engaged in counter insurgency (CI) operations in various
parts.
His comments in the backdrop of the Dantewada Maoist
attack, which claimed lives of 76 paramilitary and police
personnel, came in an article to be published in the
forthcoming issue of the 'Indian Defence Review'.
Delving in-depth on the anti-Naxal operations carried
out in Andhra Pradesh, he stressed that the 'Greyhound'
pattern of operations and training to paramilitary forces
should be adopted for the affected areas.
Observing that the anti-Maoist operations cannot be
treated like the "hurried and non-organic" deployment of
forces during elections, he said while the paramilitary
personnel did not have adequate knowledge of the locale, the
district police did not have CI capability.
"What is essentially required is to work out the CI
Grid deployment based on Joint Operational Bases and the state
police/central paramilitary forces (CPMF) Special DIG head
quarters should be made in charge of operations as had been
done in Andhra Pradesh," Achuthan said.
To ensure accountability, coordination and cooperation
of all the available forces, "there is a dire need to set up a
single empowered director general level headquarters of the
CPMF to coordinate with the respective state police HQs".
He also suggested that a method be worked out to ensure
that CPMF deployment did not last more than two years "during
which the state police forces must get sufficiently built up
and trained on the Greyhound pattern to relieve them
permanently".
Achuthan referred in detail to the aggressive rural
developmental activities carried out by successive governments
in Andhra Pradesh led by N Chandrababu Naidu and late YSR
Reddy in the affected areas, along with revitalising of the
state police, saying this approach should be adopted "whatever
be the costs".
PTI
First Published: Sunday, April 11, 2010, 13:01