NEW DELHI (AFP) — Top Indian officials met in New Delhi on Wednesday to address an increasing security threat from Maoist rebels operating in the mineral-rich but impoverished east of the country.
The high-level security talks at the home ministry come weeks after an audacious rebel attack in Orissa state left dozens of members of an elite counter-insurgency force dead.
The meeting also comes a day after Human Rights Watch accused India of backing a vigilante group which has forced at least 100,000 people from their homes in Chhattisgarh state, the hub of the Maoist movement.
"The threat is a serious challenge facing the internal security of our country today, so an appropriate strategy has to be found," a government spokesman said.
No details emerged from the closed-door talks, with the spokesman saying the discussions would continue all day.
The Maoist insurgency, which grew out of a peasant uprising in 1967, has hit half of India's 29 states. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the rebels, known here as Naxalites, as the biggest threat to internal security.
Earlier this month, the left-wing rebels opened fire on a boat carrying Greyhound Force commandos who were on a patrol in Orissa, sinking the vessel.
While 29 policemen survived the attack with serious gunshot injuries, the bodies of 35 others were recovered after several days.
It was one of the biggest Maoist assaults on security personnel since March last year, when the rebels slaughtered 55 policemen in Chhattisgarh. Last year, Maoist-related violence left at least 837 dead, according to the home ministry.
"The government will deal sternly with Maoists indulging in violence," a senior home ministry official said before the talks.
New Delhi has consistently refused to hold peace talks with the rebel groups unless they renounce violence.
Federal and state authorities in India have been struggling to come up with a strategy to battle the guerrillas.
Some have called for a massive security operation of the kind used to battle insurgents in Indian Kashmir, while others have said the focus needs to be placed on improving living conditions in India's impoverished hinterland.
Officials in New Delhi said the focus was still on security.
"Our emphasis is on increased funds for the security personnel, better surveillance and strengthening ground-level intelligence gathering," the home ministry official said.
"It is an inter-state problem, and therefore the states involved will have to adopt a collective and coordinated response to counter it. Modernising security forces is of great importance," the official said.
Still, he said the meeting would underline the importance of "accelerating socio-economic development of the backward areas to minimise overground support for Maoist ideology and activity."
According to official figures, tribal villagers in the insurgency-hit east have no more than 35 cents a day to spend, the lowest in the country -- providing for a fertile rebel recruiting ground.
Analyst P.V. Ramana, with the Institute of Defence and Studies and Analyses, said New Delhi lacked a "clear vision and an accurate assessment of the Maoist strength" -- unlike the Maoists, who are known to be extremely well-organised.
He said there was also an "unwillingness to accept that this is a political problem."
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