07NOV: A day ahead of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s planned visit to West Midnapore, the police today seized a huge cache of arms, including two powerful rocket launchers, one IED, 4 kg of explosives and several firearms from Sarenga forest area in Bankura, prompting the state administration into deciding to hire a helicopter for CM’s use there. The two Maoists carrying the fire arms in a gunny bag, however, fled the spot riding a bike and disappeared into the Charbhaga forest bordering West Midnapore and Bankura districts.
07NOV: While the threat from left-wing extremism has been assuming serious dimensions, the state’s response has so far been ‘timid and weak’; also, there is confusion about the nature of the threat. The fact that their agenda for social and economic justice enjoys widespread support inhibits the government in dealing with the challenge effectively. The issue is not the legitimacy of their demands, but their declared method of fulfilling them. Those who are sympathetic to the revolutionary movement should pause and think about the likely consequences of a bloody revolution! It would mean untold misery for the people already impoverished and living on the margins of society. It could result in incalculable loss of life and property and complete disruption of normal life. A long period of instability, chaos and turmoil could push back the country by decades. Instead of rationalising violence, well-intentioned people should press the government to initiate immediate measures to deliver social and economic justice to the people. It should be possible to achieve the goal through some basic political and economic reforms that are long overdue without going through a bloody revolution. The issue is far too serious to be left only at the initiative of the states. A national level response is required for this national level threat.
07NOV: Even as the Centre grapples with the challenge of conducting peaceful elections in Jharkhand despite the Maoist threat, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren today welcomed a former Naxal leader and the wife of a jailed Maoist and announced them as his candidates for the upcoming five-phase polls in the state. Soren, shunned by his former ally Congress, is learnt to be desperately seeking the support of the Maoists in a bid to shore up his declining political fortunes. In tribal- dominated Jharkhand, Maoists hold sway in over 20 of the 22 districts in the state.
07 NOV: Despite home minister P Chidambaram's assertion in Hyderabad on Friday that Operation Green Hunt against the Maoists was a `media creation,' preparations are on in the rebel-hit areas of Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh to mount such an operation. Special forces belonging to Commnado Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) are being flown in to Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra where a few companies of the CRPF are already in place. Besides, other paramilitary forces and police personnel would be there to help the elite force.
07 NOV: In a highly idelogical response on Maoists, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat on Friday said ultra-Left in India was nothing but part of "Left-sectarian and anarchist trend". Stressing the need for "political-idelogical exposure" of Maoists in India, Karat, however, cautioned the government not to treat them as terrorists and even admitted that they had struck a chord among tribals and a section of intelligentsia. Comparing current violence in West Bengal to the one that swept through the state in the early 1970s, Karat said he was hopeful that it could be dealt with ideologically just the way it was done in the past. He cited election results to show that while CPM lost support among middle classes, it had retained support among tribals. Violence against his party cadre, Karat said, was not a new phenomenon because Marxists mobilised people whom the extremists want to win over.
06 NOV: For the first time since Maoist violence escalated and the government started a crackdown on them, CPI (Maoist) central committee (CC) member and the party’s spokesperson Azad replied to some questions. Justifying violence, he said it was in defence of the poor and unarmed but admitted that beheading of Francis Induvar was an abberration that would not be repeated.
06 NOV: Even as top Maoist leader Kishenji said talks were possible with the government if it declared a ceasefire and withdrew central forces from the Naxal-hit areas in various states, an additional six companies of paramilitary forces were deployed today in Lalgarh-Jhargram areas in West Midnapore for a renewed offensive as the Centre gears up for Operation Green Hunt. “The additional companies have been deployed in different areas as part of the joint Centre-state forces currently engaged in operations against the Maoists,” said West Midnapore SP Manoj Verma.
06 NOV: A Maoist leader in India said the rebels are willing to talk to the government if it puts off a planned offensive against them. Koteswar Rao said rebels would talk "if there was a ceasefire" on both sides. His comments came as paramilitary troops were deployed in areas hit by rebel violence in West Bengal state. The rebels are fighting for communist rule in many Indian states. More than 6,000 people have died during the rebels' 20-year fight.
06 NOV: Union home minister P Chidambaram has said that the Centre has not launched any operation against Maoists, and that "state police are responsible for maintaining law and order". However, there were widespread reports of an anti-Naxal operation to be launched by the Centre at the tri-junction of the worst Naxal-affected states. The tri-junctions identified for the offensive are Andhra Pradesh-Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh; Orissa-Jharkhand-Chhattisgarh and West Bengal-Jharkhand-Orissa.
06 NOV: Indian security forces and anti-government Maoists should ensure civilians' safety during their armed struggle in central India and elsewhere, Human Rights Watch has said. The Maoists — also called Naxalites– operate in nearly 200 of India's 600 districts. "Government and Maoists, who claim to be acting on behalf of India's poorest people, can be undermined by the atrocities by both sides against these very same people," said Meenakshi Ganguly, a researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Locals are at risk of being caught in the middle of the fighting – killed, wounded, abducted, force
06 NOV: Even as the Maoists torched two trucks on the last day of the bandh in Sundargarh district, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik feels unsure of a joint operation against the Naxalites in Orissa. Talking to mediapersons after returning from Delhi, Naveen accused the Centre of not sending adequate paramilitary forces for the purpose. ”I have asked the Union Home Ministry since some time for seven more battalions but, that has not been forthcoming,” he said. Naveen, however, maintained that the State Government would continue in its effort to combat Naxals. ”We have taken several steps like recruitment of new personnel and training them for anti-Naxal operation.” Though the Home Ministry had earlier asked the State Government to prepare for a joint-operation, it has been postponed indefinitely as no assistance has been forthcoming from the Centre.
06 NOV: Naxal problem is a result of ignoring ‘basic realities’ such as underdevelopment of their areas and their severe deprivation and backwardness. The Naxal movement gets sustenance because the government does not treat it as a politico-ideological and socio-economic problem and that the movement is symptomatic of a society which is anxious to usher in social change. Basically, it is the failure of the State machinery and the bankruptcy of official policy which explains the growing clout of the Naxalites. It is the rising consciousness of the deprived sections of society, who are today more determined than ever before to struggle for land, forest resources, minimum wages, social dignity and self-governance. But Indian administration always handles the issue through force by claiming that Naxals are involved in aimless violence.
06 NOV: The staccato rattle of gunfire startled Poneym Pandroo from his sleep. He reached for his bow and arrow, quickly gathered his four children, and fled into the nearby jungle, away from the only home he had ever known. He remembers the confusion as villagers ran for their lives as their houses were set ablaze behind them. Those who were not quick enough were chased down by the gunmen and savagely killed. When the villagers returned four days later, Mr Pandroo, 40, found his home destroyed. The gunmen had torched the paddy farmer’s thatched hut, looted his food grains, and slaughtered his chickens.”They call us Naxalites,” he said, sitting outside his gutted home, gaunt, withered and trembling. “Because we refused to join Salwa Judum, we are automatically equated to Naxalites.”
05 NOV: Sri Lankan Government on Thursday for the first time admitted that the LTTE was training the Maoist cadre in India from the past two years. Lanka’s Central Intelligence agency had earlier submitted the report to government. “We will provide details to the Indian Government to expose the nexus” Sri Lankan government reportedly said on Thursday. Sri Lanka’s affirmation clearly indicates that Maoists are getting logistic support and training from LTTE. According to sources, Sri Lanka’s top intelligence wing has acquired some key information
05 NOV: Police have arrested two Naxalites in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district during an encounter.They were arrested last night from a forest near Kamkanar village in the district, where the insurgents had opened fire at a patrol party, Avinash Mohanty, Bijapur Police Superintendent told PTI.
05 NOV: Comrade Vijay, a lean, mustachioed man in his late 20s leaned towards a beat-up radio set inside his tent, rifle by his side, and tuned in to the BBC’s Hindi service. The broadcast relayed news of a villager killed by Naxalites, or Maoist rebels, in Chhattisgarh’s Rajnandgaon district. He cocked his eyebrow. “Mukhbir,” he said, reckoning that the man killed was a police informer. “Our men don’t kill without a good reason.” As the deputy commander of a Maoist rebel squad in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, Comrade Vigay is well versed in revolutionary rhetoric. “You cannot end the world’s injustices without stirring a revolution,” he said. “No revolution happens without bloodying your hands. We are fighting a people’s war – a protracted people’s war.” The commander and his comrades had woken after a rain-soaked night in a jungle clearing on top of a hill to the soothing sounds of birdsong and soft beams of sunlight filtering through the trees.
05 NOV: The Maoists went on a rampage in Malkangiri district in Orissa during their two-day bandh call, which began from today. They blew up a guest house of a private company at Chitrakonda. The guest house belonged to Essar Steel, which was blown up using landmines.
05 NOV: The 1,240kg of marijuana that was seized on Sunday night by the Mumbai Anti Narcotics Cell (ANC) may apparently have Naxal connection. Interrogation of Shahida Shaikh alias Simran, 34, the alleged kingpin and the lone woman among the six people who were arrested has revealed that the contraband was procured from her connections in Andhra Pradesh. Simran also told the ANC officers that she got the drug from her ex-boyfriend Shripad's contact in the narcotics trade.
04 NOV: Faced with the Maoist menace, the Left Front government in Bengal is now planning to spend Rs 1,600 crore for the development of the three Naxal-hit districts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia.
04 NOV: Army chief General Deepak Kapoor today said the offensive against Maoists would be a “long-drawn battle” but asserted the army would continue training police forces for the task. “The battle against Naxalites will not be over in one day. To eradicate Naxalism, it is going to take time. It is going to be a long-drawn battle,” he said. The army chief compared the situation with the counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast to suggest such conflicts could spread over decades. But the army would continue to train and
04NOV: On a recent broiling afternoon, Brig Basant Kumar Ponwar stood amid flying grasshoppers, on top of a muddy knoll overlooking a simulated Maoist hideout. A dozen cadets, wearing commando fatigues, formed a two-tier security cordon around the hideout. They began an ear-shattering assault with AK-47 rifles, some shooting from their shoulders, others firing while crawling on the ground towards the hideout. “If you run into a Naxal, you have to knock him down,” Brig Ponwar hollered to his cadets. “Don’t let him get away to fight another battle. This is a fake hideout. The real battle begins the day you step out of this college.” Brig Ponwar, 60, is a man on a mission – to train India’s policemen to “fight a guerrilla like a guerrilla”.
04NOV: Even as the Maoist violence continues unabated in the Jungle Mahal area, four companies of Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), a specialised unit of the CRPF to counter the Naxal menace in the country, has seen little action in the absence of specific intelligence inputs for which it depends on the state CID and the state Intelligence Bureau. In the past four moths, the four companies of CoBRA have just made five forays. Unlike the Greyhounds, who fight Naxals in Andhra Pradesh, the CoBRA does not have an intelligence wing of its own.
04NOV: After months of being in denial mode, the Nepalese Maoists have come out openly extending "full support and cooperation" to the naxalites in India, days after Home Minister P Chidambram mentioned about a possible arms supply from them. Admitting that exchanges exist between the Maoists and the Indian naxals, a senior Standing Committee member of the UCPN-M CP Gajurel was quoted today by Rajdhani daily as saying, "We have extended our full support and cooperation to the Indian Maoists, who are launching armed revolt."
07NOV: The suspected women cadres of outlawed parties in Kushtia have gone into hiding following a special drive started on Wednesday to arrest them. Sources said at least 25 to 30 women, who were reportedly involved in outlawed party activities in different areas of the district, decamped soon after the arrest of four women cadres. All of them are suspected to be the activists of Gono Mukti Fouz (GMF). Police are also looking for some male cadres who always have covered the women cadres during their move. According to police, their forces along with detective branch conducted raids on several locations in the town and different parts of the district in last 24 hours. But could not arrest any of the cadres named by the four arrestees during interrogation. Meanwhile, Baishakhi Rahman Chumki, a suspected GMF activists arrested on Wednesday, made her statement under 164 to judicial magistrate where she admitted her involvement with various criminal activities for last two years.
07NOV: An alleged criminal and an outlaw were killed in separate 'shootouts' between their cohorts and law enforcers in the capital and Kushtia early yesterday.The deceased were identified as Amir Ali, 34, and Mojibor Rahman Babu, 38, an operative of the outlawed Gono Mukti Fouz (GMF).
07NOV: The move to ban 13 splinter groups of underground communists taken by the caretaker government is shelved, although the police headquarters strongly recommended it last year. The police headquarters made the proposal in August last year to ban the left-leaning underground parties identifying those as outfits engaged in anti-state activities. The proposal came following recommendations from different intelligence agencies in a bid to ensure that outlaws cannot slip through legal loopholes and their patrons are brought to book. The home ministry held a number of meetings on the issue soon after receiving the proposal and the police high-ups welcomed the move taken for the first time since independence. Thirteen underground parties active in the country are Purba Banglar Communist Party (PBCP M-L), PBCP-( M-L Janajuddha), PBCP (M-L Red Flag) and PBCP (M-L Communist War), Biplabi Communist Party (BCP), New Biplabi Communist Party (NBCP), Gono Bahini (GB), Gono Mukti Fouz (GMF), Banglar Communist Party, Socialist Party (SP), Biplabi Anuragi, Chhinnamul Communist Party (CCP) and Sarbahara People's March.
06NOV: Most of the outlaws and members of the left-leaning underground parties now consider surrender in fear of "extrajudicial" death sentence after carrying out a reign of terror in the southwest region for decades. Sources have confirmed the outlaws are requesting AL local leaders to convince the government to give them an option to surrender like in 1999. "As the law enforcers are causing much trouble and killing our members in the name of crossfire, our top bosses are asking local ruling party leaders to arrange our surrender," said a Gono Mukti Fouz (GMF) leader asking not to be named.
05NOV: Taslima Khan Ankhi, detained general secretary of Kushtia unit Mahila Awami League, is a high profile cadre of Gono Mukti Fauz (GMF) and has been transporting arms and ammunition for GMF for the last 6/7 years, said police. Arrested on Monday night, she and four of her cohorts were yesterday produced before the district chief judicial magistrate's court with a seven-day remand prayer. The court placed them on a five-day remand.The four other arrestees are Rani, 25, and GMF cadres Abdur Razzak, 26, Shahin, 25 and Akkas Ali, 40. Police recovered one AK-47 rifle, a shotgun and 82 bullets from them Monday night.
05NOV: At least 285 people have died in internecine fights between Bangladesh’s left extremist groups that take their orders from “dons” in India, it was reported here Thursday. Retributive killings are carried out against group rivals and suspected police informers for which “the dons call the shots from India”, The Daily Star newspaper claimed in a detailed report from Kushtia, a border town. Bangladesh media has been reporting on the government’s operations against “outlaws” – as left extremists are called – amid efforts by the West Bengal government to fight Naxalite or Maoist groups in India. The newspaper said the network of different outlawed outfits in 10 southwestern districts of Bangladesh, especially in Kushtia, Jhenidah, Chuadanga and Meherpur, is very strong.
04NOV: A nexus of outlaws and some mainstream political leaders kept alive the decades-old left-leaning extremism, which later turned into absolute terrorism in the southwestern district of Kushtia. People in the region have so suffered at the hands of the outlaws that they now want a total elimination of these elements. But a recent investigation by The Daily Star reveals how a number of local politicians are protecting the outlaws for their own political, financial and other interests.Locals allege there have long been give-and-take relations between the mainstream and underground political forces, who serve each other from behind the scene when necessary. Politicians argue they have no alternative to giving in to the outlaws to keep their lives and businesses secure. But a number of politicians are in fact providing these outlaws a safe haven so that they can be used for winning elections and tender bids and establishing political supremacy.
Popularity: unranked [?]
