MUMBAI: A day after Naxals decapitated a Jharkhand senior intelligence officer Francis Induwar in typical Taliban style after having abducted him, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said that "action against Naxals was not a war".
Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, Chidambaram said, "We do not wage a war against our own people. As long as the CPI(Maoists) believe in an armed liberation struggle, we have no option but to ask our security forces to engage them. We will arrest them, we will apprehend them," he said.
The Home Minister said the Centre would help the state governments to discuss with the CPI(Maoists) all issues concerning them, including developmental issues. "Developmental issues, issues of neglect, deprivation, corruption and government structure. All these issues can be discussed and we can bring about the very development they claim to be fighting for," he said.
Chidambaram said in the state where violence stalks, no development was possible and violence was completely unacceptable in a democracy and a republic.
"No republic and no government, which has taken an oath under the Constitution, can accept that theory of an armed liberation struggle," he said. Asked about the Indian Air Force seeking permission to fight back if the Naxals fired upon its helicopters and crew operating in Maoist-hit areas, the Home Minister said the IAF would take adequate counter-measures to protect its choppers and pilots from Naxal attacks.
Chidambaram said that an IAF helicopter was fired at by the Maoists a few weeks ago in Chhattisgarh. Air Chief Marshal P V Naik said the IAF had sought permission from the Defence Ministry to open fire in self-defence if its helicopters or air crew operating in the Maoist-infested areas came under attack.
The Home Minister disagreed on the issue of foreign funding to Maoists. "There is no evidence to prove that Naxalites are getting money from abroad. But they do raise money from within the country through extortion and looting of banks," he added.