Raipur, New Delhi:
A day after the Naxal attack, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) top brass toured Chhattisgarh on Wednesday to take stock of what went wrong. The preliminary assessment says basic precautions were once again ignored. (
Read: Maoists attack CRPF party, 26 jawans killed)
The mistakes began right at the start when the road opening party of CRPF's 39th battalion went out of the camp in Narayanpur on Tuesday morning. (
Read: List of CRPF jawans killed)
Sources say, it forgot to follow a basic principle of counter-insurgency:
- Occupy vantage points. It forgot to guard the heights. As it started the return journey to the camp, the mistakes multiplied.
- The patrol party followed the same route back again not a done thing in insurgency area.
- To compound the problem, the contingent also forgot to check if the adversary was lying in wait atop the hillocks adjoining the hills
The result: as the tail end of the tired and relaxed patrol party bunched together just three km short of the camp below a hillock, heavily armed Maoists opened fire, killing 27 CRPF troopers. (
Watch: NDTV reports from Ground Zero)
"I have told the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister that some of the deployments must be revisited. We must deploy paramilitary forces when there's an operational or development needs," said P Chidambaram, Home Minister.
However, the irony is that the Home Ministry's own plan has been rejected by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS). This is an indication perhaps, that the need for consensus within the government is more pressing than ever.
However, when asked about the lack of consensus in the government especially his own ministry's plan not being accepted by the CCS last time, the Home Minister chose to make light of it. He is, incidentally, also the spokesperson for the CCS.
"First, I am not the spokesperson of the CCS, whenever CCS takes a decision, it has to be shared. There is a spokesperson of the CCS but he rarely speaks for the CCS," said P Chidambaram.
Distraught family mourns death
On Wednesday, the injured jawans were moved to various hospitals and a wreath laying ceremony was held for those killed by Maoists.
The massacre has left behind distraught families. In Bihar, the family of Tarakeshwar, who was the youngest of three brothers, is yet to come to terms with the tragedy. Tarakeshwar's mother is in coma, after suffering brain hemorrhage a few days ago. (
Watch: Distraught families of slain jawan cope with the loss)
Tarakeshwar joined the CRPF 22 years ago and got married in 1991, he is survived by his wife and a child he adopted seven years ago.
"He said on the phone that he won't be able to call for 3-4 days as the duty is disturbed and told me not to worry," said Nirmala Devi, Tarakeshwar's wife.