This Article is From Jun 10, 2010

Army to help strengthen state police against Maoists: G K Pillai

New Delhi:
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As the Cabinet Committee on Security meets today on the Home Ministry's proposal for greater assistance from the Army in tackling the Maoists, Home Secretary G K Pillai told NDTV his ministry wants state police to play a key role with assistance from central paramilitary forces.

On being asked about his ministry's take on the Army's role in anti-Naxal operations, Pillai said, "I think basically the whole strategy has been to strengthen the state police to be able to fight the Maoists. The whole focus in our strategy has been that our paramilitary forces would help the state government and the state police forces and to restore civil administration."

"This remains the corner stone of our policy and we have fine tuned some of the issues in the light of development that should take place. And I think it is better to wait till the Cabinet Committee takes a view on the proposals," he added.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will chair this key meeting today and ahead of that, defence and home ministry officials will hold discussions.

It will be a political call but the Army leadership continues to remain wary of getting embroiled in the Naxal areas, one reason why the Ministry of Home Affairs has reportedly refrained from seeking Army's direct deployment in the counter-Naxalite strategy.

Instead, the Army has offered post brigadier-level officers in Naxal-affected states as advisers and part of the Unified Command.

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