Govt set to decide against using army in Maoist war

The government will this week decide whether to call in the military to help fight a growing Maoist insurgency, but strong opposition from states means involvement of the armed forces is unlikely, officials said on Wednesday. 

State governments fear using the military would alienate local populations. Several states such as West Bengal and Bihar, where the rebels are strong in large rural swathes, will hold local elections in coming months.

"Not a single state has said that their police are incapable of handling the situation and we also see no reason to differ," India's top security official, UK. Bansal, told Reuters in an interview.

Officials said though prime minister Manmohan Singh was under pressure to take decisive action -- without it he risks being seen as weak -- the opposition of the states would weigh on any decision a cabinet committee takes this week.

Even a section within the Congress party, which heads the central coalition, sees the rebellion more as a problem of poverty and underdevelopment that could not be solved militarily.

Given the strong political opposition, senior security officials said, the military was unlikely to be used.

A string of deadly attacks this year has undermined the government's claim to be winning the war on the Maoists. They are blamed for derailing a passenger train this month, killing at least 145 people.

There were two other incidents since last month that testified to their strength -- the killing of 76 police in an ambush and an attack on a bus that killed 35 people.

The movement, which Singh has described as India's biggest security challenge, is now present in a third of the country. They are mostly spread in rural pockets of 20 of India's 28 states and hurt potential business worth billions of dollars.

Bansal said it was up to the states to decide what kind of help they wanted from the military.

Another home ministry official told Reuters that the army could be used in a non-combat manner, such as in training police, strategising and limited logistics support.

Officials from Maoist-hit states of West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Orissa, told Reuters they did not favour military action. 

Orissa has not asked the centre for use of army to handle the naxal (Maoist) problem," Prakash Mishra, director of the state police intelligence department, said.