Raipur, Jul 5 (IANS): Hours after the Supreme Court asked Chhattisgarh, one of India's states most affected by Maoist violence, to stop recruiting tribals as special police officers (SPOs), police officers in the state Tuesday said the "stunning" order will severely hit operations against the guerrillas.

"I am stunned by the court decision. The guys (SPOs) were extremely handy to dismantle the CPI-Maoist (Communist Party of India-Maoist) terror network because they are locals and are well aware of the jungle terrain, Maoists' war game, and had solid inputs of Maoist hideouts," a police officer posted in Dantewada district told IANS.

Another officer said on condition of anonymity: "SPOs had inside knowledge as some had served as low-ranked Maoist cadres, while several were victims of guerrilla violence. The court decision will surely impact the police in fighting Maoists."

Slamming the Chhattisgarh government for using tribals as SPOs in its Salwa Judum counter-insurgency operation against the Maoists, the apex court Tuesday directed the state government to "cease and desist" from the practice and asked it to recover all the firearms and ammunition given to the SPOs.

It also directed the central government to ensure that its finances are not used for funding SPOs.

Chhattisgarh has roughly 4,500 SPOs, some of them even minors. The maximum number of SPOs are deployed in Dantewada and Bijapur districts that have witnessed a string of deadly attacks by Maoists since Salwa Judum, which means 'peace march' in the tribals' Gondi language, was launched in June 2005.

Congress leader Mahendra Karma was credited for launch of the movement, with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) joining in support later.

However, some police officers also said that the Salwa Judum movement is not as active as it was in the past, and the order will thus have a limited impact.

However, rights activists have welcomed the apex court ruling, saying that the state government had armed "non-state actors with AK-47s to kill its own citizens".

Rajendra K. Sail, a prominent People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) leader in Chhattisgarh, told IANS: "Their (SPO) appointments were not as per the law. Arming civilians without accountability is wrong, they were armed with even AK-47s and were asked to target people on instruction of the authorities."

The Chhattisgarh government has yet to comment on the Supreme Court order.

Maoists, who control vast swathes of rural India along its eastern flank, claim to fight for the rights of poor peasants and landless labourers. Rebels virtually run a parallel administration in the forested rural belts in half of Chhattisgarh's 18 districts.

The state has witnessed more than 2,200 casualties in Maoist violence since it came into existence in November 2000.