TSPs warned human rights violations would be dealt with severely.
The Centre has gone in for a course correction to tackle the Maoist insurgency — by changing it strategy from heavy- handed security action to bottom up approach of winning hearts and minds.
In a day-long workshop for SPs of 30 worst Naxal-affected districts a battery of security professionals from the army and the security agencies taught the young officers how to win hearts and minds of people, including Maoist sympathisers.
“The emphasis of the workshop was how not to alienate population from police and security forces and seek their cooperation instead by avoiding indiscriminate arrests, controlling policemen from committing excesses and human rights violations,” said a young SP from Jharkhand.
“Yes, you can call it a change in strategy as it emphasises overhauling the current approach based on security domination,” a senior security official invited for a lecture said.
There was also a separate session on how to counter Maoist propaganda and defeat them in the information war by applying the ideology of sensitive statecraft and increasing intelligence network where the young officers were briefed by none other than director of the Intelligence Bureau, Nechal Sandhu.
Home minister P Chidambaram who attended the concluding session asked the SPs to go in for the big fishes which is in tandem with the new strategy of minimal use of force against the local populace including Maoists sympathisers.
“The SPs were sensitised and told clearly that excesses and human rights violations be it by officers or jawans would be dealt with severely as they are one of the main reasons of alienation of local population," sources said.
Meant for SPs of 30 worst affected districts responsible for 80% of the violence, the workshop, however, was attended by 26 officers from Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh.
The apathy of the Bihar government was again evident as only one of the five invited SPs (from Rohtas district) could attend the crucial workshop. SPs from Aurangabad, Munger, Navada and Banka failed to come because of delayed communication from state’s home department.
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