Ill-trained forces sent to fight Naxals, say experts

A day after Naxals dealt another blow to the CRPF in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district, top security experts said the government seems to have shown undue haste in entrusting anti-Naxal operations to a force that is not ready to cope with the challenges.

“This sort of incidents can take place with any force. But I feel the government has made a mistake by giving exclusive charge to the CRPF to fight Naxals and even terrorists in Kashmir,” said Ved Marwah, former Delhi police commissioner and an internal security expert. “The enemy is cunning, motivated and well-trained with better intelligence, while our forces are lacking on all fronts…”

K.P.S. Gill, however, disagrees. The former CRPF chief says the force is fully capable of dealing with the Naxal problem, but those involved in planning the operations don’t seem to be learning from mistakes.

“The inquiry set up after the first incident followed the line which the MHA had already taken and it did not go into the real reasons for what happened. It appears the same mistakes have been committed again.”

For him, the one-line solution is strengthen state police forces and keep the law and order machinery insulated from political pressure. “Without strong backing from the state police force, the CRPF cannot achieve the objective.”

After an analysis of the Naxal plan and the response mechanism, sources said the force is still vulnerable. “Road opening by the forces could be effective only if we are able to dominate the Naxals 15 to 20 km inside the jungles. Otherwise, such movements is bound to invite trouble,” said a top state police officer in Chhattisgarh.