Facing criticism from certain quarters for waging a war against its own people, the Centre on Sunday played down its impending armed offensive against Naxalite groups, saying the security forces have been instructed not to open fire till they are attacked.

“If no one fires at the security forces, they are not going to fire at anyone. That’s a clear direction given to the security forces,” said Home Secretary G K Pillai.

Pillai, speaking at a seminar here, also said that Operation Greenhunt — the name by which the operation against Naxalites is being described — was a creation of the media and there was no such operation underway.

He said Operation Greenhunt was a name given to a small localised operation in Chhattisgarh a few weeks ago and that name has simply stuck on.

“The operation has been badly hyped. All that the security forces are going to do is to secure areas to make it convenient for local officials and contractors to work on development projects like building of roads or hospitals. We want to make sure that the civil administration is allowed access to these extremely backward areas and allowed to work on development projects,” he said.

A large number of civil society organisations and human rights activists have criticised the government for going to war against its own people. Some, like noted lawyer and human rights activist K G Kannabiran, were present at the seminar and urged the government to initiate dialogue with the Naxalite groups instead of getting into an armed conflict.

... contd.