Under fire from tribal affairs minister V Kishore Chandra Deo who has called the CRPF offensive in Chhattisgarh as “completely unacceptable” and the civil society, union home minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday tried to steer the CRPF clear of the controversy while conveying deep regrets for the loss of innocent lives.
Under fire from tribal affairs minister V Kishore Chandra Deo who has called the CRPF offensive in Chhattisgarh as “completely unacceptable” and the civil society, union home minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday tried to steer the CRPF clear of the controversy while conveying deep regrets for the loss of innocent lives.
“If any innocent person has been killed, I am deeply sorry... if any girl, or boy or man or woman not involved with the Maoists at all has been killed, I can only be deeply sorry... I share Deo’s sense of sadness and anguish at the loss of lives,” Chidambaram said during the cabinet briefing on Wednesday.
Another reason for the Centre’s worry is that a fact-finding team comprising of activists Swami Agnivesh, BD Sharma and Himanshu Kumar is expected to visit the place of the incident — Sarkaiguda village, approximately 3 kms from Basaguda — on July 6. Moreover, the state unit of the Congress has claimed that seven innocent minors were killed in the CRPF attack.
In an attempt to muster up defence for the CRPF, Chidambaram said, “The CRPF DG has said that he has nothing to fear. I do not think any central force has been so transparent… I am not going into the political controversies. I am the home minister and the CRPF is under me. We have been absolutely candid, frank and upfront.”
He quoted the CRPF DG as saying that if in the dark jungle, if the CRPF is facing casualty, the Standard Operating Procedure requires it to open fire.
Sources told DNA that feeling the heat and aware that such incidents can recur again by an on-the-offensive CRPF, the Union home ministry has asked the force to draw up fresh Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for night operations keeping in mind the situations wherein Maoists can use human shields to protect themselves.
The MHA also seems to be in a favour of giving compensation to the family of innocents who lost their lives in the incident, for which the state government will have to take the final call.
Fearing violence during the bandh call given by the Maoist in south Bastar region, the union ministry of home affairs has also alerted Maharashtra, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
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