Date:09/04/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/04/09/stories/2004040904541300.htm

National - Elections 2004

Police counter-action teams to combat naxals

HYDERABAD

They sit huddled in groups flipping through the dog-eared pages of a photo album. Their eyes are locked on to the pictures. Their focus is not on the weapons the men in the pictures pose with but on their features and their build.

Then comes another set of printouts with morphed images. Some with beards, some with tonsured heads and some with moustaches. But then, they have seen the men in the pictures so many times that they are able to identify them in whatever disguise. And this ability is the most crucial component for the success of the latest counter-extremist strategy unfolded by the Andhra Pradesh police, to counter the threat of the naxalite action teams (ATs) formed to hit the targets — politicians or policemen — especially in the run-up to the elections.

The ATs, normally consisting of two or three members armed with concealable weapons, are given specific targets. Since the ATs have the advantage of being anonymous and highly mobile, they have struck terror among the Telugu Desam Party and Bharatiya Janata Party workers. The People's War has reportedly vowed not to allow any campaigning by activists of the two parties.

In the last six months the ATs have killed as many as 42 political workers, including 36 belonging to the TDP. The killing of Venkata Raju, husband of the State Tribal Welfare Minister, Mani Kumari, in Visakhapatnam district is testimony to the ATs' efficacy. It is also why the TDP and BJP leaders have been unable to campaign in the interior areas of the Telangana region.

Now, the police have come up with a counter-strategy, applying the naxalite tactics in reverse and have set up counter-action teams (CATs). Like the naxalite ATs, the CATs are totally anonymous. Both carry pistols that are easily concealable and move on the basis of specific intelligence inputs. If local militants are the eyes and ears of the naxalites, the CATs depend on the police network and inputs from intelligence agencies.

Police are reluctant to divulge the details, but sources confided that every naxalite-affected district has about four to five CATs as against two or three naxalite ATs. The team members are carefully chosen and operate only in specified areas. "What is important is that the members should have high self-esteem and willingness to work and take risks. What motivates them to work is additional allowances and the instant recognition they get if they are successful," says Nalin Prabhat, SP, Warangal district.

K. Srinivas Reddy