Soft targets

ON Thursday, four BSF jawans, who were out on an ‘area domination’ operation in a dense forest of Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district, were killed in an ambush by Naxals. The next day saw a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan dying in another encounter with the Naxals in the state. These victims are the latest in the long string of security men repeatedly marked by the Maoists over the years. They are a reminder of those other chilling April massacres of not-so long ago: in April 2010, the ultra-Leftists struck dead 76 CRPF personnel in Dantewada; the second deadliest attack came seven years later, when 25 CRPF men fell to the Maoists’ gunfire in Sukma.

It is tragic that the jawans performing their duty in order to keep their hearths burning should be working in the difficult Maoist-infested Chhattisgarh with little protection from the Naxals who demonstrate their strength with every strike. Intelligence failure makes the security men soft targets in these treacherous stretches. It is ironical that the Maoists who claim to be fighting for the uplift of the deprived rural peasants and tribals of the region should aim to do so by pointing the gun at another equally poor, but hardworking, section of people — the jawans. The Naxals’ movement for social radicalism by militarising the area has done no good to the tribals, neither socially nor economically. Rather, it has rendered their plight worse. With the power struggle turning violent, the poor tribesmen have been repressed, squashed as they are between the weapon-wielding Naxals and the armed forces. The failure of the state to uplift the tribals from the wretched poverty and illiteracy has condemned them to retreat deep into the dark interiors of the forests, under the ultras’ influence. 

While the whole state will express its voice in the polls later this month, it is unlikely that the tribals would have a free say in the most powerful exercise of democracy. The state of affairs must prompt the government to rethink its strategy. Development of the forest residents would weaken the terror organisations, thereby obviating the need of deploying soldiers in the area.