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Analysis
Naxals Mobile
Warfare Strategy
by
Col. Rahul K. Bhonsle
The killing of over 50 police personnel including over 30 of the crack
Greyhound police force indicates a new phase in Naxal militancy, that of
mobile warfare. This includes strikes by large forces on selected targets to
cause heavy casualties. While the tactics may remain the same, ambushes and
IEDs, these will gradually be up graded to that of conventional attacks. The
area along the Orissa-Andhra Pradesh � Chattisgarh border has emerged as a
Naxal hot spot. That seems to be the trend ahead as we review the new ground
gained by the Naxals over the past few weeks.
Forty four personnel of the specialist anti-Naxal force, Grey Hounds of
Andhra Pradesh Police were feared drowned as their boat capsized after they
came under attack from Maoists hiding in a hilltop in Malkangiri district of
Orissa in June. The Grey Hounds were operating on the border between Orissa
and Andhra Pradesh. The casualties later came down to over 30 as a number of
police personnel who managed to swim ashore were rescued. State militia
commission (SMC) of the Maoist party was suspected to be behind the attack.
Kalimela dalam in the Andhra-Orissa border was also likely to be involved.
The Maoists had laid bait for the Grey Hound sending information that a
major conclave was in progress in Malkangiri in Orissa. The police taken in
by the ploy were ambushed after they were returning empty handed. This is
also the first time that the Maoists have used rocket launchers with great
effect. It was a classic ambush site. "Sunday's strike, taking advantage of
the reservoir surrounded by three hills, marks a new beginning in the Maoist
warfare," an Andhra police officer said.
The Andhra police has been successful in clearing Naxals from Nallamala,
Palnadu and north Telangana regions of Andhra. Thus they have now
concentrated in the, 'Andhra-Orissa border zone'. "The Maoists take
advantage of the jungles, inaccessible hamlets, poor roads and the tribal
population where the government is all but absent," said a report.
There have been many indications in the past that the Naxals were attempting
to obtain boats to navigate along the various local rivers in the area.
Another input was the existence of local rocket launcher manufacturing units
in the country side. It is essential that these trends should have been
followed up and higher vigilance maintained particularly in the light of
intelligence reports that the Naxals were likely to go in for a major
strike.
The Andhra Pradesh � Orissa border areas have been one of the main concerns
for spread of Naxals. This is evident with the large migration that has take
place and the hold that the Naxals have over the population particularly the
traders. This provides them a dual advantage of having a hold over the
economy as well as running an elaborate extortion network.
In Orissa the government proposed to raise a counter-insurgency battalion
for resolute action (COBRA) on the lines of the successful Grey Hound model
in Andhra Pradesh with Central funds. The state on the other hand has,
promised land, free of cost. 400 CRPF personnel will also be deputed to the
state to strengthen the Special Operation Group, exclusively meant for
counter-insurgency and anti-Naxalite operations.
While Orissa has been facing sporadic Naxal attacks, the line being followed
of raising specialized battalions is welcome. This will provide a
specialized task force for eliminating the Naxals and for undertaking
offensive tasks. This will meet the requirements in two ways, a general
force for defensive and counter actions and a specialized force for wresting
the initiative. This may not be enough as the recent spate of attacks in the
state by the Naxals shows.
There are many other issues which tend to raise concerns. Police training
remains poor. Recently a survey revealed that about 400 constables were
�trained� to aim at targets using sophisticated weapons such as Insas and
self-loading rifles (SLR) but were not able to engage them effectively. Of
the 395 constables appointed in 2005 and trained at the Jharkhand Armed
Police Training Centre at Padma in Hazaribagh, 235 were found lacking
necessary firing skills. �The constables failing in the examination will be
sent for retraining at Padma. Some failed to hit the set targets through
SLRs and Insas rifles, while a majority of them failed to complete a
six-kilometer run in the stipulated 25-minute time,� said a senior police
official based at the office of the inspector-general of police (training).
The Human Rights Watch report released recently perhaps puts the things in
perspective, when alleging abuse of people�s rights through movements as the
Sulwa Judum, it has clearly indicated that state capacity to combat Naxalism
remains to be built up despite extensive platitudes.
July 20, 2008
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