via andhrapolitics

Just a day after  the beheading of kidnapped Jharkhand Special Intelligence officer, Frances Indwar, Home Minister P. Chidambaram, recalling the incident where an IAF helicopter was shot at by the maoists at Chhattisgarh, told the media that the Indian Air Force will be given every possible freedom to save its helicopters and pilots from being hit by Naxals during encounters. While Air Force Chief P.V. Naik said that demands from IAF for such shoot-outs are under consideration by the Cabinet Committee of Security, strict counter-actions will be undetaken if need be as the accused are all Indian citizens after all.

Naik was heard saying that “Decision will be taken only at the highest level. Conditions under which my air crew is going to fire are very stringent. We put up a set of Rules of Engagement, RoE, as it is called. And these RoE are very, very stern. No excessive force, no collateral damage, positive assurance, positive identification, only then.”

©2010 Sapped. All Rights Reserved.

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The “spectre of communism” is engulfing the Indian sub-continent faster than world’s most fearsome terrorist groups active in the country which is playing cards to grab a non-permanent position at the Security Council for the session 2011-12.  The recent arrests of some top leaders of the ‘agitated’ rebels across the nation and the attacks  which are in accordance to the ‘scorch-then-salve’ policy’ advocated by aggressive officials and approved by Home Minister P. Chidambaram has aggrieved the perpetrators more than ever now. The Minister’s “crackdown-first-development-later” policy seems to have failed in gathering enough sympathy from former director-secretary of BSF, Mahendra Kumawat, who in an interview to The Telegraph, condemned the ploice activity of killing maoists without harbouring proper amenities to the aggrieved poor who due to shortage of money, are drawn to the rebel circles, stating that it is right now “a counter-productive half measure”. Like most terrorists, naxalites are drawn from the lower and lowest sections of the societies across the affected states like Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh which are among the worst hit. The Naxalite -Maoist Insurgency, the movement conducted by these rebels has spread over 180 districts across India and has in its sway more than 40% of the Indian population. They are especially concentrated in the “Red corridor”, where they control 92,000 square kilometers.

Naxalites or the Maoists have been since long, considered a threat to the national security and as a doctrine of violence, oppression and aggression, they can be only an enemy to the state. The problem in combating them stems from lack of proper co-ordination between the states. Kmawat points out that states such as Bengal and Jharkhand simply deny access to their data. The turf battles between the various intelligence agencies is a primary reason for the failure. As such, Chidambaram’s statement that Naxal areas need be first “cleansed” of their “disruptive dominance” practically holds no better picture. No matter how much the UPA government tries to score past these stronghold guerrillas, it will be impossible to perpetrate their netted webs without proper information that must be analysed for months before the time of action.

To show their disagreement and dissatisfaction to Chhatradhar Mahato, PCPA leader and Maoist sympathizer’s arrest, Maoists blew up two railway tracks in Purulia, South Bengal. The sites(Adra-Chandil section of Sounth Eastern railway and Rourkela-Chakradharpur section, in Jharkhand) although don’t have much civilian agglomeration or traffic, are indeed vital for maintaining transport connections between Southern and Northern Bengal.

The term Naxalites comes from Naxalbari, a small village in West Bengal, where a section of Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) led by Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal led a violent uprising in 1967, trying to develop a "revolutionary opposition" in opposition to the CPI(M) leadership. The insurrection started on May 25, 1967 in Naxalbari village when a peasant was attacked by hired hands over a land dispute. Local peasants retaliated by attacking the local landlords and the violence escalated. Majumdar greatly admired Mao Zedong of China and advocated that Indian peasants and lower classes must follow in his footsteps and overthrow the government and upper classes whom he held responsible for their plight. He engendered the Naxalite movement through his writings, the most famous being the 'Historic Eight Documents' which formed the basis of Naxalite ideology. In 1967 'Naxalites' organized the All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR), and later broke away from CPI(M). Uprisings were organized in several parts of the country. In 1969 AICCCR gave birth to Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)- wikipedia /picture credits to jagoindia

The explosion resulted in blowing up a three-foot section of the track about 100m away, tore wires and left a three-foot deep crater. Two more concrete sleepers have been destroyed.

Reportedly, more than 400 youths from Lalgarh and surrounding areas were trained by the Maoists to use weapons and explosives. The seriousness of the “clever tacticians” and perpetrators has come to surface now more sharply than ever.

©2010 Sapped. All Rights Reserved.

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