Defence minister A.K. Antony, inaugurating a new Air Force Station here Monday, ruled out deploying the Army or Air Force in anti-Naxalite operations.
Asked if the time was right to deploy the Army in anti-Naxal operations given the intensity of the Chhattisgarh attack on Saturday, Mr Antony rejected it. “There is no proposal like that. We extend our support without direct involvement. The real answer is to strengthen the police and paramilitary forces”, he said.
The defence ministry, he added, is strongly opposed to deploying the military in such operations.
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Last-minute route change is a mystery
Rabindra Nath Choudhury
Raipur, May 27
Did the last-minute change in the Congress convoy route lead to Saturday’s tragedy, in which 28 people, including Salwa Judum founder Mahendra Karma, PCC chief Nand Kumar Patel and a host of Congress leaders and workers, were killed by Maoists at Jiram Ghati in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region?
This question is being raised in several quarters in the state as a six-member NIA team arrived Monday to probe the biggest-ever strike by Maoists. There is speculation that a party leader from Dantewada suggested the change in route.