Army role in Naxal fight turned down

The proposal to involve the armed forces in anti-Naxalite operations is a closed chapter.

The proposal to involve the armed forces in anti-Naxalite operations is a closed chapter.

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With the Cabinet Committee on Security refusing to back the home ministry’s plan of drawing on the military’s expertise in its anti-rebel operations, the government is reworking its anti-Naxal strategy that would focus on pumping resources into affected districts to strengthen the security and civil infrastructure.

The message from the CCS, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to the internal security establishment was clear, said a government source.

Singh, who had declared Naxalism the country’s single biggest internal security challenge more than three years ago, is expected to convene another meeting of the panel next week to consider the reworked plan.

Home Minister P Chidambaram — who had spoken of his limited mandate after security forces suffered setbacks in Chhattisgarh — could seek more money but the states and the paramilitary forces would have to fend for themselves.