Chhattisgarh attack: Is counter insurgency the only way to deal with Maoists?

Is an all out war against the Maoists the only solution to the gruesome attack in Chhattisgarh or is there a more balance approach to deal with the problem? The Congress leadership thinks that there is a balanced approach to the problem. According to them, development and counter strikes are not antithetical to each other. However, in this case they said that the BJP leadership in Chhattisgarh failed to take note of the security problem in the Maoist corridor. [caption id=“attachment_822085” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh has proved that the Maoist problem is far from over. PTI.[/caption] Speaking to CNN-IBN, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Congress MP, said, “Is it deniable that there were hardly any policemen? There were no more than a handful of policemen. The sooner that they (the BJP leadership in Chhattisgarh) stop living in denial the better it is for their future.” Sociologist and activist Nandini Sundar said that the answer could not lie in military action alone, but one must fight to restore the faith in the constitution. “If we believed in democracy then Mahendra Karma should have been in jail. He had already been pulled up in the CBI for a tree felling case where he had cried foul. It is ironical now that his own son wants a CBI probe into the attack,” she said. Former IPS official Kiran Bedi listed a set of things the police in Chhattisgarh really needed claiming that it had been conveyed to her by her colleagues in the Maoist-affected state. “They say we need a strong coordination between the home ministry and defence. Drones are not a favour been done to them but having drones they can hear, watch and they can take care of rush security. At the moment they are irregular, " she said. “We want a special investigation team in the area from Pashupati to Tirupati and not the NIA. You can have special security zones and we have to act in a coordinated manpower where we have to go to the top leaders. The government should also empower 60 honest collectors and 60 SPs and pump them with money for development. After that they should be rewarded by giving them the choicest postings,” she said. Praveen Swami, National Security Analyst for Firstpost.com and CNN-IBN, said, “Counter insurgency is unpopular. There will be hardship and at that time the political leadership should decide. Unfortunately, our military history of 200 years shows us that there is no nice way to fight a war.” According to him, there will be collateral damage in this counter insurgency warfare. “Andhra Pradesh solved the Maoist problem without fancy gadgetry. It was done in Tripura, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir,” he said. However the political leadership needs to have a strong will in this. Which is highly unlikely, because we are not willing to learn from the successful models, he added.