Balance tilts Naxals' way unlike the fight in J&K

NEW DELHI: India's war against Naxalism is turning out be a one-sided bloody affair, as Maoists dominate a battlefield of dispirited security forces with no credible intelligence flow. The level of sophistication shown by the Maoists, in inflicting largescale casualties on civilians and security personnel with minimum damage to themselves, is turning out to be far superior than that of any other guerrilla group in India, including Kashmiri terrorists with suicide bombers.

Dependable statistics show that the fight between an insurgent group and Indian security agencies has never been so one-sided.

Statistics, in fact, are far more frightening than what may grab headlines.

Just one Naxalite gets killed against four deaths among civilians and security personnel in Left-wing extremism-affected areas. Even at the peak of Kashmir insurgency, the casualty rate was almost equal on both sides — a terrorist was killed by security agencies for every death among civilian and security force personnel.

It was always an equal fight in that sense. The year 1996 may have been the bloodiest year in Jammu & Kashmir, when a total of 2,822 lives were lost — 1,424 civilians, 189 security personnel and 1,209 terrorists.

Even then, the ratio between the number of civilians and security personnel killed against slain terrorists was 1.33.

The ratio gradually declined over the years, and over a period of time, the security forces were able to reverse the trend.

By 2005, the security forces in Kashmir were killing more terrorists than the number of securitymen and civilians dying in violence. This superiority could be attributed to the security grid of several battalions created by the military, superior intelligence, and good evacuation and medical assistance available to the forces among others.

"We have contained the trouble," said a senior official in the security establishment, contrasting it with the escalating casualty among security personnel and civilians in the Maoist-affected areas.

The Maoists have far less sophisticated weaponry and explosives than the Kashmiri terrorists, and they do not carry out suicide attacks like the Kashmiri groups. Suicide attacks are believed to be the most powerful means of inflicting largescale casualties in modern day terrorism.

But still, thanks to the lack of credible intelligence, coordination and ill-prepared security forces, the Maoists are able to dominate the cat-and-mouse game. By the end of April this year, over four civilians and security personnel were losing their lives against one Maoist casualty. This ratio may actually go up as long as Maoists are able to carry out train sabotages, remote controlled explosions targeted at crowded buses etc.