INDIA’S FEDERAL government may deploy the military against armed Maoists rebels responsible for perpetuating terror and mass murder across a third of the country after provincial police and federal paramilitaries proved incapable of halting them.
The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), headed by prime minister Manmohan Singh meets in New Delhi today to approve the military’s employment against the Maoists, responsible for killing nearly 200 civilians and over 100 security personnel since April.
Ahead of the CCS meeting, defence minister AK Antony conferred with the three service chiefs on Tuesday to discuss the military’s “calibrated” deployment on internal security duty against the rebels, its possible mandate and long-term security ramifications.
Over the past five years, over 4,000 people have died in violence unleashed by the banned Maoists, described by Mr Singh as India’s gravest internal security challenge since independence 63 years ago.
Last Friday, Maoist rebels sabotaged a passenger train, killing at least 145 people after it derailed and smashed headlong into a goods train in eastern India.
Past governments have been loath to employ the military to counter the spread of Maoist violence across some 250 of the country’s 620 administrative districts.
They believed such severe measures would only signal the obvious weakness of civil law and order instruments like the police and paramilitaries, ceding the rebels a tactical and moral victory. The military has been hesitant over such deployment as it is trained to kill its enemies with heavy force.
The use of Special Forces personnel has also not been ruled out to carry out targeted assassinations of senior Maoist leaders.
Since 1967, the Maoists have been pursuing their “People’s War” of agitation and propaganda. They levy taxes, dispense justice through kangaroo courts and determine the education and moral behaviour of locals. For the moment they control but do not hold territory.