Joint task force to combat Naxals

NEW DELHI: The approach to fighting Naxalism has come full circle in a little less than a year, moving from talks to "ensuring effective and sustained police action," coordinated by an inter-state joint task force.
Participants at the standing committee of CMs and officials of 13 Naxal-affected states ��� meeting here for the first time ��� were unanimous in the strategy for combating Naxal violence even as they resolved to accelerate socio-economic development of the affected areas.
In doing so, they ��� especially the Union government ��� were leaving behind bitter memories of the single round of failed talks held by the Andhra Pradesh government.
Union home minister Shivraj Patil, who presided over the meeting said, "Naxals would be fought compassionately, but in a determined manner... to see that the menace is liquidated."
He took pains to emphasise that the states would have to do that on their own and the Centre would back them up with funds, weapons and training, but no direct intervention.
Preparing the ground for that round of talks held at Hyderabad on October 15, Patil had told CMs on September 21 last year that talks could be held even if Naxals did not drop arms.
"If they drop arms, it is good. But if they carry arms and still want to talk ... we don't have any difficulty. We are not afraid of that also," he had told the media after the meeting.
That was a time when, as per Patil's own claim, Naxal-sponsored violence had come down and the Peoples War Group (PWG) cadres had "ceased to fire."
The surprise for all concerned, however, was the sudden merger of the PWG and the Maoist Coordination Centre of India (MCCI) under a new name, Communist Party (Maoist). Formed a year ago on September 21, it was, as per the Naxals' strategy, announced on the eve of the October 15 talks.
Emerging from the forests to large public welcome, the Naxals did not drop arms. What followed later was a series of violent encounters and, the government alleges, regrouping of Naxal cadres across what is the "compact revolutionary zone" from Nepal to Tamil Nadu.
Naxals walked out of the dialogue on January 17 this year. The February developments in Nepal, causing a spill-over of Maoist cadres into India and continued violence, culminating in the August 15 killing of a Congress MLA, provoked the Andhra government to ban the outfit.
Other states have either imposed similar bans or are contemplating it.