Veteran Punjabi film actor Nirmal Rishi receives Padma Shri
New Delhi: Former home secretary GK Pillai on Wednesday questioned government’s decision to review or revise the current Naxal policy.
Speaking exclusively to CNN-News18, Pillai said that the policy of clear and hold has yielded results and if you stick to the existing policy Naxalism can be wiped out in five to ten years.
“We are not saying this, Maoists themselves have come out with a white paper saying they have lost top members of central committee after 2011. It proves that the policy was a success,” Pillai said.
GK Pillai as union home secretary had designed the anti-Naxal policy which was popularly called operation Green Hunt after 75 CRPF men were killed by Naxals in Chhattisgarh in 2010.
Pillai questioned the government’s decision of not appointing a full time director general of CRPF and also criticised the ground leadership of the force for not following the standard operating procedures.
“For your main internal security force, a DG should have been appointed at least a month in advance. I would definitely question the government’s decision to not appoint a full time DG for so long,”Pillai said.
Though the Centre appointed Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar as DG CRPF on Wednesday.
Pillai said that accountability must be fixed at the company commander level of the 74th Battalion of CRPF which came under attack in Sukma.
“Basic SoP tells you that 4-5 people cover the others, you guard your flanks. Nothing was done in this case. Where was the dog squad which could have alerted the force to human presence immediately?” Pillai asked.
The former home secretary said that in his assessment some level of complacency with a possible momentary lapse in judgement was responsible for the death of CRPF personnel.
He said it must be enquired into if DIG level officers were monitoring on regular basis if SoP was being followed.
Home minister Rajnath Singh has called for a meeting of all Naxal- affected states on May 8th to review the Naxal policy of the government.
GK Pillai said the need of the hour is to ensure development in Bastar so that people are on the side of the government.
Rejecting the possibility of a military or aerial strike, Pillai said that need was to isolate the Maoist cadre and not alienate the tribals.
