DIMAPUR, JULY 25 (MExN): In a testimony to the efficiency of the Nagaland Armed Police in Chhattisgarh, local dailies there have been reporting on the growing wave of popularity of the Naga jawans among the villagers affected in the Bastar region by the Maoists.
Overwhelmed with the response and support of the local villagers, the Nagaland Armed Police (NAP) – deployed in Bastar region for counter-Maoists operation – would reopen the schools closed in the interior areas of Dantewada district following fear from the extremists of Red Army.
According to highly placed police sources, the NAP was working on the proposal to reopen the schools in the interest of the local tribals and children. If things move on right track, the schools under the supervision of Naga jawans would probably reopen from the ensuing academic session, sources said. Having stepped into Bastar forests ten months back, the jawans of the Naga force had succeeded in building confidence among the local villagers.
The attitude was hostile when the Nagaland Armed Police jawans came. But it had changed drastically as the approach of the villagers was now gracious, said a senior official of the force.
The Nagaland Armed Police force had built houses for the villagers besides taking care of their medical need by organizing free health camps in the interior areas specially the worst Maoist infested pockets of Injaram, Konta and adjoining places.
Sources said that the support of the villagers had lifted the morale of the Nagaland Armed Police jawans and it could be visible even in the military operations against the extremists of the Left radical group.
In last two weeks, the Naga jawans gunned down six hardcore Maoists and nabbed two others in separate incidents while giving befitting reply to the rebels in the areas, which Maoists claimed to be under their influence.
The growing popularity of the Nagaland Armed Police (NAP) stands testimony to the experience of a senior Minister of Chhattisgarh government when he asked the people of a Dantewada village as to which force they needed for their escorts. Pat came the reply, “Nagaland Armed Police”; a senior state police official was quoted in the local dailies.
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