Security experts oppose using army against Maoists
By IANSFriday, May 14, 2010
NEW DELHI - Internal security experts Friday unequivocally supported the central government’s policy against using the army to counter Maoist guerrillas.
“The army cannot be utilised to fight Maoists simply because it is not trained for internal security. It is not trained in the type of guerrilla warfare that Maoists engage in,” said Mahendra Kumawat, former special secretary (internal security) in the home ministry.
Kumawat was speaking Friday at a round table discussion, organised by the Observer Research Foundation, on “Meeting the Maoists challenges: A relook at current strategy.”
“The army is trained to kill ruthlessly in an open warfare with an enemy which is distinct and easily recognisable,” said Kumawat, adding that it is not trained to choose and kill.
Agreeing with Kumawat, D.N. Mitra, a serving Indian Police Service officer, said: “If you have a hammer, it does not mean that you start hitting every nail with it. The army is too big a hammer to hit Maoists, and if you do it, you will end up hitting your own finger.”
Home Minister P. Chidambaram early this week ruled out using military as an option to tackle the Maoist menace.
“Sri Lanka might have used the military to tackle the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) but we in India can’t do that. We ought not try this in India,” he said.
“We may have the capability but we ought not do it,” the home minister said.
Chidambaram Tuesday made his views clear on using the army to tackle Maoists in response to Chhatisgarh Home Minister Nankiram Kanwar’s suggestion.
Kanwar sought the army’s intervention a day after eight Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were killed May 8 when Maoist guerrillas blew up their vehicle in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district. The attack came a month after the rebels massacred 76 security personnel in an ambush in the same region.
“In today’s scenario, the army should be used to tackle Maoists. It completely depends on the central government to take a call on this,” said Kanwar.
