India maybe breeding a Naxalite resurgency CNBC-TV18 spoke to three experts, about the increasing Naxalite problem and possible solutions. In November they stormed Jahanabad. In early March they hijacked the train in Jharkand, and last week they beseeched Udaygiri in Orrisa. Are we in danger of the Naxalite movement slowly but steadily overwhelming the country. What do we need to do to tackle the threat? Ajit Kumar Doval: Former Director of the Intelligence Bureau “The Naxalite strategy of increasing power had to come in five stages. The Naxalite threat is very present in all these areas(170 districts in 15 states). Even in those areas where the violence has not been very high, it would be completely wrong for us to say that they are not present there or they are not consolidating themselves. “In September 2004 the merger of two major naxal groups in the countries came about, this has been brought under a single umbrella. 92% of the left naxal movement which has happened for the first time in the country. After the merger they named themselves as communist party of India Maoist , echoing the Nepalese. That itself established the links between Nepalese Maoists and Indian Naxalites. There are there power players in Nepal. The Monarchy, the Democratic Party, and the left Naxal movement and the left movement are the strongest today.” Ajaj Shahani: Executive Director of Institute for Conflict Management “We have been saying that you cannot have development in areas of high-level conflict. You have go to first contain the conflict only then will the funds or the provision of financing and other services actually reach the people. “If we make a comparison between Kashmir and Naxalite violence over the past three years, it was less than a third in the Maoists areas in 2004. It went up to half in 2005. If one looks at this year, we have 235 fatalities in the first three months in Maoists areas as compared to 185 in Jammu and Kashmir. In Jammu and Kashmir, out of the 185 killed , 123 were terrorists. In the naxalite area out of 256 killed, 80 were Maoists.” “I think there has been a complete effort to underplay the situation. One is the whole thing about districts. In the past official reports have confirmed the figure of 149 districts in 2005 November. We had the home ministry reports last year that say 76 districts. So they are trying to underplay that. There is another statistics in the home ministries annual report that says there are 9300 armed guards. The Minister of State for home says 7200 armed guards in the last month. They are manufacturing the numbers.” “I think we have to go beyond the law. We have to go to constitutional amendments. We have to review the whole structure of Law and Order administration in this country. We are now speaking of trying to co-ordinate counter terrorism responses across fourteen-fifteen states. You will remember the absolutely disastrous experiment when they tried to have a joint task force just to chase one Veerappan. You cannot have co-ordination in this country. There are constitutional obstacles to this.” Ved Marwah: Former Governor Of Jharkhand “Not only this problem is bigger, it is much more difficult in the sense that both the North-East and Jammu and Kashmir are border states. The rest of the country can look at the problems in these areas in the media and they are really not bothered it. Daily life is not affected. This is a main line problem. Today there is a situation already there that they can stop rail traffic; road traffic and they can do anything in this mainstream area. For example the train from Delhi to Howrah can be stopped.” "They have the potential to use lethal weapons like they have been used in the North East and Jammu and Kashmir. Their capacities are growing and the polices’ capacity is declining and that is where the danger comes in. The Naxal movement has decided not to use these lethal weapons in the initial stages of their revolutionary movement. Not because they have got shortage of funds. The classical theory is that you should get the people to use these weapons. It is a change in tactics. As far as funds are concerned, they are getting funds in thousands” “It is not true that the Government is not aware of the extent of the problem. They are very well aware. The Prime Minister is aware, the Home Minister is aware and everybody else is aware. It is the cause today our rulers are so totally preoccupied with electoral politics that they have absolutely no time for problems like Naxalism and for many other security problems.” “First of all the government’s strategy must recognize the fact that it is a national problem. It is not a state problem. The Center has been saying it again and again that this is Law and Order of the state, which is simply not true. Number two is that we must have specially trained forces in Gorilla tactics. This sending in so many CRPF battalions serves no purpose at all. They haven’t fire fighters they are protecting themselves. Number three there should have special laws to deal with this problem. Number four, they should have equipments and other resources, which these people know and they should have leadership problem. You should have those officers who really can do their job in these places. “ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - http://news.moneycontrol.com/india/news/politics/jahanabadjharkand/indiamaybebreedingnaxaliteresurgency/19/17/article/208523