Lack of knowledge about terrain, lingo cripples operations against Naxals

BASTAR: Lying severely injured in a Jagdalpur hospital hundreds of kilometres from his home in Champaran, Bihar, 22-year-old Ranjeet Singh was among the 49 Chhattisgarh Special Task Force (STF) personnel ambushed by 400 Naxals in Sukma district Saturday.

The team was on a combing operation, but like his colleagues recruited from various states, Singh had no clue about the area's topography . "It's my first posting in Bastar. I've never been told in detail about the area as seniors select the searchand-comb spots. We just follow," Singh said, adding the team was directionless after platoon commander Shankar Rao was gunned down in one shot.

The jawan's admission highlights why Naxals have an edge over STF, CRPF and BSF. Maoists not only know their territory like the back of their hand, but have a well oiled intelligence network and logistics support in "sangams" or village-level supporters. No familiarity with local Gondi dialect is another major problem, particularly in gathering intelligence in Bastar, that's bigger than Kerala in geographical terms.

"Bastar is a 360-degree battlefield. It's not like a war with Pakistan where both knew who's on the other side," says Brigadier B K Ponwar of Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College, Kanker. He said SOPs need to be followed strictly, stressing that "we have to take on a guerilla like a guerilla; creeping re-occupation of territory by gradually moving forward," simultaneously addressing the issues that lead to spread of Naxalism.