Will STF succeed in its mission?

By G. Satyamurty

COIMBATORE, JUNE 20 As the new-look STF team, headed by Mr. W. I. Dawaram, sets out into the forests of Sathyamangalam tomorrow to put an end to the Veerappan menace, it is painfully aware that the challenge is more daunting than it was in the past.

Can this former police officer, who spent days and weeks in the forest years ago on a similar mission, catch the biggest nightmare of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka? Though the STF suffered the loss of 22 lives (including a number of tribal informants) in the Palar mine blast about a decade ago, the force headed by Mr. Dawaram brought the brigand to his knees in first half of last decade.

The officers in his team like Mr. K. Vijay Kumar, new IG of the STF, or Mr. K. Tamil Selvan, DIG (who lost a couple of fingers in an earlier operation) are not new to the operation. It is Mr. Tamil Selvan who has been in and out of the operation in recent years.

The major advantage of the STF now is that the State Government headed by Ms. Jayalalithaa is solidly behind it. Besides, unlike the STF during the DMK regime, which had a number of reluctant men, the present force is made up of `volunteers' meticulously chosen and rigorously trained.

Though the DMK Government said it was fully assisting the STF, former officers were sore that it listened to them only after the abduction episode of the Kannada actor, Mr. Rajkumar, ended. ``By then it was too late''.

Mr. Dawaram has never been for a huge force to catch Veerappan. He told this correspondent immediately after the Palar incident, ``Veerappan is a ruthless but highly cunning criminal. But he is a coward. He will never hit back. Hence what we want is a small force of dedicated men who could spend months together in the forests''.

However, apart from the treacherous jungle terrain of almost 12,000 sq.km. on the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka border, Mr. Dawaram will have to surmount the major challenge of ``fear and distrust'' among tribals.

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Section  : Southern States
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