Launch all-out attack against Naxals: Govt to security forces

NEW DELHI: The Centre has asked security forces on the ground to go on an “all-out offensive” against Maoists and “show results in the next few weeks”.
“Identify the lapses and problem areas that are exposing the CRPF to repeated high-casualty attacks and redraw the counter-Naxal strategy to plug them. I want results on the ground in the next two to two-and-a-half months,” Union home minister Rajnath Singh is learnt to have told senior security adviser K Vijay Kumar and acting CRPF D G Sudeep Lakhtakia at a meeting of the central and Chhattisgarh security brass in Raipur on Tuesday.
Terming the massacre of the 25 CRPF jawans “cold-blooded murder”, Rajnath told reporters in Raipur that the Centre has decided to convene a high-level meeting involving all 10 Maoist-hit states in New Delhi on May 8 to hammer out a new strategy” for a “decisive fight against the Maoists”.
A home ministry source said that chief ministers of these states will attend the meeting. “The home minister asked for a switch in the strategy and to do whatever it takes to prevail against Naxals, vowing to provide the security forces with all that they need for the offensive,” said a senior government functionary.
"You name it...more men, technical support, better resources...I am willing to put it all at your disposal. But I want results,” the home minister told the meeting.
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At the meeting, also attended by Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh, Rajnath stressed that CRPF personnel have been repeatedly targeted by the Maoists and the forces have suffered high casualties.
“There are bound to be problem areas in following standard operating procedures by CRPF men in Maoist pocket boroughs like Bastar,” he said.
In fact, Singh asked Lakhtakia and Vijay Kumar to stay in Chhattisgarh till the time they come up with a robust solution.
“Based on their findings, they must come up with a revised strategy ahead of the May 8 meeting with chief ministers of 10 Naxalhit states in the national capital. The new strategy will be put at the meeting for discussion and finalisation,” said an official.
Over the next few days, Vijay Kumar and Lakhtakia will work on a revised counter-Naxal strategy to plug any gaps in CRPF’s security and response. The meeting will also be attended by the state chief secretaries and director-generals of police of the states concerned apart from district magistrates of 35 districts, worst-hit by Left-wing extremism.