With heartrending regularity our security forces fall prey to deadly attacks from homegrown as well as foreign terror groups. There are various reasons for these attacks ranging from superior local knowledge to local assistance to inadequate intelligence to poor coordination and inadequate administrative support. What is most worrying is the repetitive nature of the attacks and the modus operandi used. On 13 March 2018, 9 CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) personnel once again fell prey to Naxal attacks in a manner eerily similar to such attacks earlier.
On 13 March at about 12.30 PM, Maoists / Naxal rebels attacked an anti landmine vehicle of the 212 Battalion of the CRPF. The incident took place at the site of the under-construction Kistaram-Palodi road. A 50 kg IED explosive device was used by the attackers. 9 jawans lost their lives and 6 more were injured, 2 of whom are said to be critical.
The condolences for the families of those who were killed soon started. From the Prime Minister to the Home Minister to the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh expressed distress, and saluted the fallen men.
While those in power vowed to avenge the deaths and declared compensation packages, the opposition busied itself scoring political brownie points and blaming the incident on “directionless policies”, ineptitude and more without really offering concrete solutions or support.
On the one hand commentators are condemning the opposition for their opportunism in politicizing the incident. Others are speaking sarcastically about the predictable reactions and consequent inaction by the party in power who seem to be focused primarily on campaigning for and winning elections.
In February 2018 two policemen were killed in a gun battle with Maoists in Sukma. In two deadly attacks last year, in March 2017, 12 CRPF jawans lost their lives whereas in April 2017 24 jawans were killed.
According to Prakash Singh, retired DG BSF and DGP of UP and Assam, there are a set of circumstances that result in these repeated attacks. There has been a consistent lack of a strategic approach or any clear-cut guidelines to the Maoist problem though India has been battling it for 50 years. Repeated intelligence failures, the attacker’s superior local knowledge juxtaposed with the non-local personnel posted into the area are some of the reasons for the repeated attacks. Tactical leadership and training also appear to be inadequate says Singh who feels that there are no lessons learned even after similar successive attacks.
Former Director General (DG) of Border Security Force (BSF), S K Sood has expressed similar sentiments about the issue and has added that the high rate of attrition (voluntary retirement) is one of the problems. Continuous deployments, sometimes for extraneous duties, inadequate leave, lack of basic facilities and infrastructure, poor career trajectories and long periods of separation from families further complicate matters.
Many commentators have pointed out that the government that promised to bring change appears to be repeating many of the same mistakes as its predecessor; plus some new mistakes and unforced errors as well.
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