Union Home Secretary G K Pillai made a telling point while reacting to the news of Maoists gunning down 24 jawans of the Eastern Frontier Rifles in West Bengal. He said: "If a police camp becomes a picnic spot, such a thing is bound to happen."

Details about the camp and activities of the jawans at the time of attack are telling: camp site hemmed in by a crowded market on three sides, no watchtowers, no sandbags, lone sentry at the gate and a public toilet inside the camp. That is not all. One jawan was helping the cook and another was in public toilet when the attack happened. Both fled, instead of fighting. The locals have been quoted as saying there was no counter firing from the jawans.

On an earlier occasion too, two paramilitary personnel were gunned down in West Bengal's troubled area while they were casually roaming around in the market. Two of their colleagues fled from the spot, instead of confronting the rebels.

All these desciptions do not really fit a security camp or security men fighting a terror outfit. It fits more of a picnic outing for the security men. And beg the question: Is the West Bengal government serious about fighting the Maoists?