Maoist violence: Centre chalks out strategy

2005
By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad, June 17: Chief Ministers of all the 13 Naxal-infested States in the country will form themselves into a standing committee to devise strategies from time to time to fight Maoist and other Left wing extremist violence.
Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil will be the chairperson of the standing committee of chief ministers. Joint task force operations will be conducted by affected States to prevent movement of Naxalites from one State to another. This in effect means police of one Naxal infested State can enter the territory of another Naxal-infested State without prior permission of the State concerned.
Chief Secretaries and directors-general of police of Naxal-hit States met in the city on Friday under the chairmanship of Union Home Secretary VK Duggal to discuss the problem of and find solution to Naxalism. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy participated in the inaugural function.
The meeting categorised Naxal-infested States into two categories based on the scale of violence by Maoists and other Naxal bodies. The States where the Naxal movement is active and violence quite frequent are Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and Maharashtra. States like West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttaranchal, Kerala, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh have been classified as "States with sporadic violence".
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Duggal said none of the States suggested a nation-wide ban on Naxalites as they saw Naxalism more of a socio-economic problem rather than a police or unidemensional or internal security issue. The meeting discussed the socio-economic steps taken up by various States and the Centre's intervention in development of backward areas, land reforms, forest rights, employment and education. "We would like to treat Naxals as a misguided lot", he said.
Duggal said Naxal violence had come down considerably in the country in the past one year. There were only 768 Naxal violent incident during 2004-2005 as against 884 incidents during 2003-2004.
The meeting decided to go in for joint operations, sharing of intelligence and joint task forces in active naxal belts. Mine protective and bullet proof vehicles will be procured for combing operations.
To a question, he said local people might be involved in fighting against Naxalites. The State government will take up development of neglected areas and take up economic programmes involving the local population to wean them away from the movement.
He said a common model could not be evolved for the entire country as the problem differs from State to State. It has to be tackled at the State level.
Duggal pointed out that State governments might utilise the services of jungle warfare from the Army to train their police force. At present 24 battalions of central forces consisting of 24,000 police personnel are on anti-Naxal duty in the country. Andhra Pradesh will get one more battalion. It has at present four battalions fighting against Naxalites in the State.

Breakdown of talks with Naxals sparks Maoist violence

2005
By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad, April 4: The breakdown of peace talks is proving to be costly for the YS Rajasekhar government with one violent death reported almost every eight hours since January this year.
As many as 150 people including 80 Naxalites have been killed either in Maoist violence or police "encounters" all over the State after the talks broke down, creating a sense of fear psychosis in interior villages and areas abutting forests.
Such is the extent of fear in the jungles that even a top police official like the DGP has to use helicopters to visit police stations in far-flung areas with Naxal dominance. Earlier only the chief minister used to use helicopters. Incidentally, it is the first time that a DGP is avoiding going by road, choosing to heli-hop frequently to forest areas in recent years.
The Maoists have also changed their strategy to keep the State government and the police machinery under constant pressure and fear by hitting at unexpected targets, be it police stations or little known politicians. The recent attack on Chilakaluripet police station and the killing of local-level Congress, TDP and BJP leaders are part of the Maoists' new plan of action to rule over the interior areas.
On Monday alone, the Maoists killed RSS activist and Bharatiya Kisan Morcha district president K Ayyapu Reddy in Mahbubnagar district. Just a few hours earlier they killed mandal Congress leader Yelka Madhusudhan Reddy in the same district. Though these local politicians are not on the hit-list of the Naxalites, they are simply targeting them to put pressure on the government.
Maoists former representative and revolutionary singer Gaddar fears that bloodshed will be more if there's no rule of law by the government. "If you abide by the law, it's for your good", he advises the Congress government while accusing it of shutting the doors for peace and peace talks.
Squarely blaming the State government for the failure of the talks process, Virasam president Kalyana Rao, who withdrew as Maoist representative on Monday, feels that peace will return to the jungles if the State government restored the pre-talks atmosphere.
Iornically, both the Naxals and the State government are planning to involve local tribal youth in their fight against each other. While the government has decided to raise a tribal greyhounds force, the Naxalites are increasingly employing tribal youths into their movement.
Drawing a parallel between Mahabharatha and the ongoing Naxal-police fight, Gaddar likened the State government to Duryodhana and the Moaists to Pandavas in "Vanvas" (forest exile). "We emissaries are like Krishna. When the Pandavas sent Krishna to Duryodhana as an emissary, he was held captive", he said.