Andhra Pradesh   

Operations against naxals to be more focussed

Special Correspondent

State police asked to change strategy with intelligence reports

HYDERABAD: The police have been asked to change their present pace of anti-naxal operations to a more "focussed operation" with the help of intelligence inputs from across the State and the country on the naxal activity.

Sources said this could mean adoption of a policy of hot pursuit based on the leads secured by the police from various sources. It is stated that the police are now in a better position to pinpoint the movement of naxal dalams (armed groups) due to an improved information network.

Towards this end, the Government has decided to buy a helicopter for anti-naxal operations soon instead of waiting for the same to arrive from the Centre. Though the Centre has agreed to lend the Government two helicopters, owning one is seen as a better option. This would help us avoid unwarranted delay in launching the offensive against the Maoists.

The naxals, the sources said, had changed their tactics after the formation of the CPI (Maoist). They had intensified the guerrilla activity and were involving large groups of civilians to project their strength on a higher scale.

Police could no longer go by what they did in the State alone in the past as geographical boundaries were getting blurred in their offensive.

Vempenta attack

It is not the recent Jehanabad incident in Bihar that has opened the eyes of the Government to the new possibilities but the Vempenta attack in Kurnool district early this year. Information from the surrendered and notes of slain Maoists has woken up the administration.

A senior official said naxalites seemed to be working to establish control over dominions now and not just launch attacks to seize arms and ammunition.

The Government's strategy is not to focus on ad hoc measures but to simultaneously take long-term steps such as providing employment and initiating welfare measures "to achieve the aim of winning not just one battle but the war itself".

The lifting of the ban on Virasam (Revolutionary Writers Association) is seen as a tactical move by the Government, which does not want to isolate any section other than the Maoists in this phase of the operation.

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