'Army is tracking the Naxal threat'

State governments and the police bear the responsibility for addressing the Naxal challenge, but the army has been monitoring the threat to ensure that it does not get out of hand, a US cable recently released by WikiLeaks said, quoting army chief General VK Singh. Aloke Tikku reports.

State governments and the police bear the responsibility for addressing the Naxal challenge, but the army has been monitoring the threat to ensure that it does not get out of hand, a US cable recently released by WikiLeaks said, quoting army chief General VK Singh.

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The cable was based on a meeting between Kolkata-based Consulate General Beth A Payne and the senior army officer in February 2010, who was set to move from the army's Eastern Command to assume charge as Chief of Army Staff.

Payne found the officer "unusually candid for a man in uniform", who spoke without a note taker. But she noted that he was unlikely to be as accessible or free to speak in his new position.

In a conversation that saw the army chief talking about their expertise in counter-insurgency operations and reintegration of people, as well as the Naxal challenge, General Singh emphasised that Naxalism was not a secessionist movement and the army was helping fight against it.

The military could, and is, working on a limited basis with the police in an advisory or training capacity, but they are not involved in active operations, the cable quoted him as saying.

The fact that the army was not involved in active operations was made clear in the cable, as evident from what General Singh said. However, the army has been training the police in all capacity to fight the Naxal threat in an indirect way.

This has been the arrangement so far.

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