India under siege

In a horrific act of violence the naxalites massacred about 75 security personnel in Dantewada in Chhatisgarh early morning today, with top officials suggesting that the victims walked into the trap. Dantewada has been one of the strongest den of the naxalites for few years and joint operations were being carried out in the area. The massacre is intolerable. This shows that India is very much at the doorsteps of a full blown war within its territory. The decision makers are now faced with the challenge to make choices between peaceful ways of bringing the warlords for talks or to accept the challenge and launch a no-holds-barred war with the insurgents. 

The naxal incidents in the recent years show that the internal security managers of the country need to correct their fundamentals. Their report card otherwise suggest that they should be drowned into the bay of Bengal. The governments both at the Centre and the states have compromised on internal security by not modernising the police forces nor made them professional. The police forces in the country still live in the old world of registering complaints with their shallow investigation. The political leadership has made the police units in the states spineless, which is demonstrated time and again. The Mumbai terror attacks had proved that the people in the country are at the mercy of their fate only.

The new Union home minister P Chidambaram has wasted much of the precious time in speculating over bringing the naxalites to the negotiating table. The elusive naxalite Kishenji appears to have succeeded in fooling the security managers.

The damning fact remains that the naxalites in the country are well entrenched in the fortified Red Corridor, which stretches from Nepal to deep down in the forest of Chhatisgarh. Reports suggest that they are armed with much sophisticated weapons and are highly trained. Worst is that they have a domian of their own and they appear to rule their territory.

The time for soft approach towards the naxalistes (Maoists) insurgents is now up. Now, the time has come to look at the way the Sri Lankans wiped out the LTTE insurgents in their country. The internal security managers must set a timeline to finish off the insurgents with no conditions attached. Time is running out for them. It's better to act in time than to wait for the fate to hand out its verdict.