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NHRC act ‘demoralising’

BERHAMPUR: The restrictions imposed by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on aerial bombing of naxalites who were fleeing after their gruesome act in Nayagarh district demoralised the police force, felt policemen who had played a major role in throttling the Maoists in South Orissa during the 60s and 70s.

“The commission should have tried to teach peace and love to the extremists instead,” said Anadi Sahu, former Inspector-General of Orissa Police (IGP).

Mr. Sahu played a major role in subverting the naxal movement in South Orissa during the 60s and 70s. After taking voluntary retirement, he entered politics and owed allegiance to the NCP. Yet, he felt that due to petty vote politics modern technologies were not being used against the naxals.

“Every political leader should take the blame for the slackness that has led to increased naxal menace. It is high time the States and the Union Government rooted out the Maoists,” he said.

Most senior policemen with anti-naxal combat experience like Mr. Sahu feel that aerial bombing using satellite inputs was the strategy to be adopted to track down naxals. The ground forces should be used only to cordon off the jungles and mountains that were suspected to be housing Maoists.

“We have the technology to track down a single gun bearing extremist inside a jungle through satellite imaging. Why not use it along with aerial attack to reduce casualty of the police force?” they ask?

Immediate use of aerial bombing by helicopters on naxals escaping through the jungles after the Nayagarh attack could have led to a death blow on the extremists.

“But the way the NHRC suddenly intervened to stop aerial bombing made policemen and the general public feel that terrorists have stronger human rights than the innocents they kill,” Mr. Sahu said.

Most of the former policemen who had seen naxals of the past say that the present breed of terrorists could never be compared with the ones like Nagbhusan Patnaik. “We brand the present breed of Maoists as butchers, extortionists and dacoits,” Mr. Sahu said.

Meanwhile, combing by the SOG, CRPF and Greyhounds personnel continued in the Gasama jungles in Ganjam and Kandhamal districts. Combing also started in the Tumba jungle in Ganjam district. But no naxalite could be traced either dead or alive.

KORAPUT: Vehicular traffic had come to a standstill in Malkangiri district following a bandh called by naxalites on Wednesday. While shops and other establishments were open in the district headquarters, shutters were downed in MV-79, Motu, Kalimela and other interiors pockets of the district. Naxalites blocked the roads at many places in the district by felling trees.

The bandh was called in protest against the killing of Sudhir, a top naxal leader from the region, by the police. They charged the police with killing Sudhir in a fake encounter on Orissa-Andhra Pradesh borders after having caught him while purchasing a bus ticket at Jeypore in Koraput district.

Superintendent of Police Deepak Kumar denied the arrest of Sudhir in Koraput district and said that he was killed in an encounter with the Andhra Pradesh police on the other side of the border.

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