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Secondly, there was no opposition to the forming of local
militia or arming them from the Center.
Thirdly, the naxals attacked the tribals opposing them often
brutally because they believed that they were actually
attacking the Government as the tribal opponents were
seen as instruments of the Government.
Fourthly, since the document's only plan is to create militia,
it would explain the lack of coordinated response to
coordinated attacks of the Naxals is believable.
From a point of view of policy formulation, strategy, or
process of fighting internal forces, this is the worst
strategy to follow:
1. A Federal Republic would require equal participation
of concerned authorities and not just the center.
There is no sharing of information, intelligence,
responsibility, or best practices. The whole burden is
being shifted to the poor rural population. They are
given some weapons and left to defend them.
2. How does Patil plan to manage the after-Naxal
scenario? Will he expect the tribal population to give
up their guns? From the Pakistan experience in
fighting the Soviet Union, such policies will come
back to hunt the country in a large way. Even in
India, the arming and training of the LTTE created a
period of terror in Tamil Nadu, cost the life of a
Prime Minister, and the lives of 5000 Indian soldiers.
The arming of Village Defense Councils in Kashmir has
been a dismal failure because the villager will never
have the firepower of a terrorist and will be the
first target of any terrorist.
3. How long will Patil sustain this militia? How will he
finance them? What is their motivation to fight the
terrorists? This is akin to supporting the Maoist
terrorists in Nepal because India desires democracy in
Nepal. Like India realized in Kashmir, counter-rebels
become a law and order problem, which the Government
will have to ignore. As the US found out, ignoring the
Taliban and Osama because they were fighting the
Soviets will come back to hurt their well-being.
Naxalites in India are operating with impunity because of
economic, social, and failure of political, law and
order, and intelligence mechanisms. They continue to
hijack trains, blow up innocent tribals, brutally
murder villagers, loot explosives and arms of mining
companies, and destroy Government property. Instead of
providing adequate security cover to likely targets,
perform aggressive patrolling, continuously engage
rebel pockets, and developing intelligence networks,
Patil wants to transfer responsibility to unable
tribals and use them as a fodder against heavily
armed, highly motivated, and well networked marauders.
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