IAF not for air power against Maoists: Naik

New Delhi, Apr 7: IAF chief Air Chief Marshal P V Naik on Wednesday, Apr 7, said that he was not in favour of use of air power against Maoists.

His statement comes a day after 76 CRPF personnel were killed in the deadliest Maoists attack ever in Chhatttisgarh.

Naik said, "The military--Air Force, Army and Navy--are not trained for limited lethality. The weapons that we have are meant for the enemy across the border."

"Therefore, I am not in favour of use of Air Force in situations like the Naxal problem," the Air Chief said.

"Let us say that air force is called in for attack in Naxal locality and it needs to fire a rocket, which is fired at a minimum distance from 1500-1800 metres...from that distance we are not able to visualise what the target is," Naik said.

"Unless we have 120 per cent intelligence that they (Naxals) are enemies, it is not fair to use air force within our borders. The basic thing is Naxals are our own citizens," he said, when asked if it was time for the military to join the anti-Naxal operations.

On Tuesday, Apr 6, even Home Secretary G K Pillai ruled out use of air power in the fight against Naxalites.

OneIndia News