Naxal menace: Home Ministry only exploring how best to use armed forces

NEW DELHI - The Union Home Ministry is only exploring how best it can use the country’s armed forces to tackle the Naxal menace, and reports in the media that the army is going to be roped in for direct confrontation with the rebels is erroneous.

Sources said that the present line of thinking in the government, and specifically within the Home Ministry was that states where Naxalism prevails should continue to use their respective police forces and paramilitaries as a counter, and use the armed forces for providing training, air reconnaissance etc.

They further added that a strategy has been worked out and approved that would include a focus on law and order and development.

“This will take a lot of coordination between the state governments and the Centre,” they added.

To a question on whether the Naxals were receiving external support, the sources said: “We know that they have some sort of external support from insurgents in the North East, in the past from the LTTE, some support from Nepal. But they have not got anything substantial. They have a market and an access to arms, but no ideological support from outside.”

They further said that Naxals have made attempts to seek support from rebels in China, but have not been too successful.

“We have not seen anything specific,” they concluded. By Ashok Dixit (ANI)