Special forces for Red bastions soon

The first batch of the anti-naxal special force for four affected states is likely to be ready by the year end. Aloke Tikku and Sanjib Kr Baruah report.

The first batch of the anti-naxal special force for four affected states is likely to be ready by the year end.

The home ministry has this week cleared the decks for the first group of police officers to be trained at Andhra Pradesh’s training facility for its commando force, Greyhound.

The first course for police trainers from Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh will begin in the third week of July, a government official said on Thursday.

Over the next few weeks, Greyhound trainers will teach the commando trainers how to survive in jungles and hostile environment, intercept Maoists and neutralise them if necessary.

These trainers will then go back to their respective states to retrain the commandos in a three-month crash course. By next July, the home ministry expects the four states to have the full complement of the special force ready to take naxals head on.

“These 8,000 members of the special forces in these four states will be the nucleus of the anti-Maoist offensive, collecting intelligence and conducting surgical operations against Maoist leaders,” a home ministry official said, conceding that the Greyhound in AP — and the special forces elsewhere — were only one component of the central offensive.

“We need development. We need to strengthen basic policing in these states but we also need a self-sufficient special force that can operate independently, and effectively,” he said, emphasising that intelligence and operations conducted by the Greyhound had been instrumental in elimination and arrest of almost all Maoist leaders.

Specially trained in jungle warfare and combat, the 2,000-strong Greyhounds operate in small teams of 15-25 commandos.

The home ministry – that has kept aside Rs. 375 crore for the plan –has, however, made it clear that the states will receive the money only as long as they stick to the plan and deploy the proposed special forces on operations.