The Maoist attack in Silda in which 24 EFR personnel were killed has finally prompted the state government to opt for a ‘shoot-to-kill' policy against Left wing extremists. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting attended by the state police chief, representatives of the Union Home Ministry and a security advisor to the ministry.
Senior state officials said the joint forces were given the power of extreme aggression following specific intelligence inputs that the top Maoist action squad in Bengal Orissa Jharkhand (BOJ) zone, called the "headquarter action squad”, has for the first time moved into the state for conducting assaults like in Silda.
At Writers Buildings, West Bengal Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen admitted on Wednesday that there were two specific “intelligence inputs” before the Silda attack — that some people have gathered near the EFR camp and some IEDs have been planted along roads in the area. The State Intelligence Branch had sent these reports which should have been pieced together by the circles concerned, said Sen.
“But that did not happen... we will have to fix responsibility why no action was taken on the inputs. The guilty will be punished,” he added. Sen said an inquiry will be constituted to find out why the jawans could not retaliate.
But, DGP Bhupinder Singh said such inputs are usual. “We have a bunch of such inputs but nothing was specific. When they will come, at what place, and at what time... nothing was mentioned,” said the DGP.
The DGP, however, admitted that locals had put pressure on the police to maintain the camp at the market place, a vulnerable location. “They (jawans) were not alert and they have paid with their lives,” added the DGP.
The 'shoot-to-kill' order was given to security forces after DGP Bhupinder Singh met senior officers of the district and Central police forces. This is a deviation from the previous guideline, where security forces were told to shoot only when fired upon and avoid “collateral damage”. The state police has also decided to relocate five camps which have been identified as 'vulnerable'.
According to a senior police officer present at the meeting held at Belpahari camp, the state government has made it clear to field officers that body count of Maoists, apart from arrest or elimination of the top leaders, has become a priority. “Now we will not wait for anything. We will identify our target and shoot. Arrest will become a second priority when we encounter armed cadres and squad members of People's Liberation Guerilla Army. We will not take the chance,” said a senior officer of Special Task Force.
So far the STF and the joint forces used to inform counterparts in neighboring states about fleeing Maoists. Now, a the forces will hunt down Maoists cadres inside neighbouring states too. “Maoist action squads operate here and then move into hideouts in neighbouring states. We have to stop that and therefore this decision was taken,” said a senior officer.
Police said the Maoist “headquarter action squad”, which effected the Silda camp attack, is highly trained and armed with sophisticated weapons took part in the assault in . “They used AK 47s, INSAS rifles and SLRs. Their firepower is much more than any armed squad in Bengal. The squad has more than 70 members,” said a senior STF officer. Sources said the squad, which was active in Orissa, was stationed in forest areas of Kotsila for three days before the attack.
Meanwhile, two members of Union Home Ministry's Security Advisory Department, led by Brigadier D S Dadwal, visited the Silda camp on Wednesday.
Congress blames Left's ‘foreign ideology' for Maoist attack
Condemning the Maoists' attack on the camp of Eastern Frontier Rifles in West Bengal in which 24 security personnel were killed, the Congress on Wednesday blamed the Left parties for promoting “foreign ideology” based on violence.
“If anybody is responsible for whatever is happening, it is the Left parties. They institutionalised a culture of political violence over the last three decades in West Bengal,” Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said. “The Left movement in India cannot run away from taking responsibility for transplanting a foreign ideology based on violence,” he said.
