Northlines
Brig Anil Gupta(Rtd.)
The nation is shocked yet again with mass causalities of the policemen who were part of an anti-Maoist operation launched in the forests of Bastar in Bijapur district of Chattisgarh, a Maoists infested state. The forces not only suffered large fatal casualties with many seriously wounded and one policeman still missing but the Maoists also managed to escape after the successful operation with a booty of weapons,bullet-proof jackets, boots and other personal accessories of the martyred policemen. What is shocking is the fact that such large losses occur frequently, and we hardly learn lessons from the past failures to ensure that the losses in future are minimized. The bitter fact is that the Maoists have proved more professional in the sense that they are known to critically analyse each operation by video filming the same and carrying out the post operation analysis to draw lessons for the future. Unfortunately, while analysing the
View: How counterinsurgency operations can succeed in Chhattisgarh
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Last Updated: Apr 06, 2021, 03:12 PM IST
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Synopsis
The doyen of deterrence theory, Thomas Schelling had written in 1966 that “brute force of adversaries cancels each other but pain and grief do not.” Herein lies the crux of what hurts someone and has a positive follow-on effect, and what does not.
A file image of anti-naxal ops beginning in Maharashtra
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