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The
Government finally woke up to the Naxal menace in India and said that
their superior army style operations,
coordination, trained cadres, and
planned frontal attacks on large
installations, and external links must
be fought under a unified command.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
addressed the Chief Ministers of
affected states and said that police
action must be backed with attractive
surrender and rehabilitation schemes
fine-tuned by the Chief Ministers to
suit local conditions for maximum
impact. He also called for pre-emptive
attacks on Naxal positions.
He
also called for joint and improved
intelligence on the cadre strength,
weapons, tactics, membership,
locations, and links of various naxal
groups in the 160 affected districts.
He said that the “the Naxalite
movement is generating some notion of
empowerment” for some groups who
feel marginalized. The Naxalite are
furthering this myth by declaring
areas as “liberated zones” where
they are functioning as the
Government. Singh said, “it is a
matter of concern that civil
administration and police are
periodically absent in some of these
areas.” But he cautioned them not to
“brutalize the
Indian
State
” reminding them “we are dealing,
after all, with our own people even
though they may have strayed into the
path of violence.”
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This
is
the first time that the Government has openly admitted
the Naxals to be a serious threat to Indian security
and governance. So far, the Home Ministry has been
molly-cuddling the issue often drinking the propaganda
juice from Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister. The
evocation of a national policy and direction is most
crucial in this fight to instill the seriousness the
situation demands. Foremost is an intelligent study of
the areas to develop a database of individuals who are
Naxals.
Firstly,
the Government needs to account for the population,
especially in the 18-45-age range, in affected areas
to an exact location. Missing individuals must be
traced, families questioned, and individually
accounted. Secondly, when individuals are untraceably
missing, their names need to be placed in a database
that would be shared across states for tracking.
Thirdly, information on missing individuals needs to
be extracted from revenue, corporation, educational,
hospital, and police records. Fourthly, as and when
individuals surface in legal circumstances, their
absence must be verified, validated, and taken off
this list. Fifthly, all political, economic,
administrative, educational, law enforcement, and
community organizations need to be tapped to provide
data on the missing individuals. Sixthly, the possible
missing list at the end of the whole exercise would
point to the membership in naxal groups. Seventhly,
their names and information must be provided to
various economic, social, political, administrative,
and law enforcement bodies so they can be traced,
verified, and tracked with a view to remove suspicions
about their activities. Eighthly, by diligent policy
of tracing and identification, the Government can
narrow the list down to individuals who are to be
treated as hardcore and be pursued by law.
Rehabilitation and surrender policies must not be
in the same vein as the sham programs of Andhra
Pradesh. There must be a clear distinction of a
hardcore to a misguided and disenfranchised youth
taken up by the promises of Naxal groups. While the
misguided youth can be accommodated in society, it
will be a travesty of justice to allow the hardcore
terrorists to seek surrender and obliterate the number
of murders, arson, and pillage that they have heaped
on the Indian nation.
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