Mumbai: In light of the gruesome Naxal attack on CRPF jawans on the afternoon of April 24 in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma – one of the hotbeds of Naxalism – that claimed 25 lives, the lack of information and pre-emptive caution on part of security personnel is alarming indeed.
The ambush occurred on a road link under construction, the completion of which could have incapacitated insurgent groups, as anticipated by the government. Police troops were posted on the stretch between Burkapal to Chintagufa area to ensure the security of construction workers.
However, the paramilitary personnel could not gauge a looming ambush and were killed brutally by suspected Naxals in south Sukma region of Chhattisgarh.
Five Naxal militants were reported dead in the counter-military attack charged by the CRPF. “A rescue team was rushed to the spot and combing went on till late in the night. Five Maoists were also killed in the counter attack by the CRPF,” Deputy Inspector General of Dantewada, P Sunderraj told Hindustan Times.
Monday’s onslaught in Sukma, can be dubbed as the worst Naxal attack since 2010.
The Pathankot ambush too speaks of inadequate planning on part of the Force. Despite an advance alert the paramilitary troops were not geared up to counter insurgent groups that managed to contravene into a high-security airbase at Pathankot in January 2016.
The storming of the army base in Uri, Kashmir by suspected militants from Pakistan based JeM on September 18, 2016 had killed 17 jawans of the Indian Army. The episode is recent enough to have warned the Indian Army and the Government about an urgent need for proactivity.
In hindsight, the instance of a BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav’s complaint about poor quality of food served to troopers on social media in January, 2017 and his subsequent dismissal should also be noted.
The series of ghastly attacks in a year's time on Indian security personnel makes one think of what exactly ails the Armed Forces.
