Under attack from various quarters for rising Maoist violence and other reasons, the home minister P Chidambaram today brought out numbers to prove that the violence was actually falling.
After a review meeting with the chief ministers of Orissa and Chhatisgarh, Chidambaram brought out numbers to point to a drop in violent incidents involving left wing extremists.
“The number of incidents and the number of casualties is lower than in the corresponding period last year. Up to 14.6.2011, there have been 811 incidents (1025 last year) resulting in 270 deaths (473 last year). Of the 270 persons who were killed, 190 were civilians (296 last year) and 80 personnel of the security forces (177 last year),” he said.
However, the numbers also proved that the numbers were relatively high compared to the success of the operations. For example, even as 80 security personnel were killed this year in anti-left wing extremist operations, only 78 Maoists have been killed. However, 883 people were arrested, suspected or proven to be extremists. Another 243 have surrendered and 315 arms have been recovered, Chidambaram said.
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