The Chhattisgarh police has successfully launched counterinsurgency operations without tribal special police officers (SPOs) in rebel-infested Bastar region, boosting sagging morale of security personnel, the police said on Tuesday.
Anti-Naxal operations, halted nearly a month ago following a Supreme Court directive to disarm SPOs, have resumed last week without involving SPOs, a senior police officer told this newspaper, requesting anonymity.
Sources said the top brass of the police and Central paramilitary forces had earlier reportedly decided to discontinue anti-Maoist operations for a brief period till a new Naxal strategy is put in place, keeping in view the SC ruling on SPOs.
“The new strategy has identified select personnel from district force (DF), an elite anti-Naxal force of the Chhattisgarh police, to replace the SPOs in anti-Naxal operations. We have decided to experiment the new strategy during the “martyrs week”, being observed by Left wing insurgents in Bastar region since July 28,” the police officer revealed.