I am reproducing two very thought provoking articles regarding the greatest internal security threat which is staring India in the face today. One was published in a leading daily forwarded to me by IISSM and the other was published by 'ISN Security Watch' a couple of days back.
Reign of Terror
RK Vij
The inhumane and merciless murder of Inspector Francis Induwar of Jharkhand Police, by those claiming to operate hefty schemes like ‘Janatana Sarkaar’ (people’s government), has exposed their real face once again. Many such instances have taken place in other Naxal-infested states. Until recently, before being pronounced as one of the most serious threats to the internal security of the country, Maoism was mostly downplayed by various actors of civil society including the media, irrespective of a higher death toll and the gruesome lynching of men as compared to other acts of violence. The list of martyred security men, which is read out on every 21st October (on ‘Shaheed Diwas’) is growing longer. Fearing the governments’ more focused approach now, Naxalites are trying to spread waves of terror once again. Whenever their senior cadre are arrested or killed in exchange of fire or their very existence is challenged, they take recourse to brutality.
Inspector Hemant Mandawi of Jagargunda Police Station was killed when he was assisting the villagers repair an interior road in order to restore public transport. His feet were severed, as the Naxals wanted his shoes. In another incident, Central Paramilitary Force (CPMF) personnel’s eyes were smashed with sharp weapons and hands cut to remove wrist watches. In the village of Kudur in Bastar district, policemen were ambushed with Claymore mines and then charred to death. In Ranibodli in March 2007, one of the rooms of the police camp was bolted from outside by the Maoists, and petrol bombs thrown inside towards the unaware, off-duty police personnel. Some escaping security men were targeted from tree tops, killing a total of 55 police officers including 36 Special Police Officers (SPOs). As if this couldn’t pacify the Naxals quest for sadism, they laid down Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) all around the building to hinder even the evacuation of casualties. The charred bodies of the SPOs — who were all local residents of surrounding villages — could not be recognised even by their kin. Similarly, when a Chhattisgarh Electricity Board (CGEB) party was on its way to repair a blown up high tension tower near the dreaded ‘Zhara Ghatee’ of Narayanpur, its truck was blown up with an 80 kg plus IED, killing 3 civilians. The explosion was so intense that various pieces of their bodies had to be gathered from as far as 300 metres. These were handed over to their families in bag-shaped folded bed sheets, without us even knowing whether they belong to the same person or not. The law of the jungle applies to the public as well. On-the-spot killings of civilians in the name of dispensing quick justice in ‘jan adalats’ (public court) is an old-fashioned governance style of the Maoists. Tying hands behind and beheading with sharp weapons is the Maoists’ favoured method. Showing disrespect to dead bodies is routine. Killing men and tying hidden IEDs to their dead bodies is yet another ploy to misguide the police and invite them to the scene of crime for inquest, leading to more explosions and more casualties.
Many seized documents have clearly shown that the birth of ‘Salwa Judum’(meaning peace march) in June 2005 in South Bastar infuriated the Naxalites. The villagers were forced to flee due to continuous attacks and escalating fear. The state government, realising its constitutional obligations, promptly responded and created rehabilitation camps to provide people with basic amenities. Though Salwa Judum came up as a self-motivated people’s movement in a response to the Naxalite atrocities, it was soon dubbed as a state-sponsored move. This is a well thought out propaganda by the Naxalites to malign the government. Quite a few times, the Naxalites have dared to attack even the rehabilitation camps. Though most of such attacks have been foiled by the police force, yet an attack on Errabore Rehabilitation Camp (situated on the national highway), left more than 30 killed and many injured. The fact is that the Naxalites were shaken by the increasing strength of the Salwa Judum and its commitment to re-establish peace in the area. The spurt of violence is due to the retaliation by the Naxalites in the face of the rising popularity of Salwa Judum, which led them to intimidate people so that they do not ever raise their heads.
Presently, there are about 3,000 SPOs, who assist security forces in the maintenance of order in Naxal-infested areas. These SPOs have played an important role in breaking and weakening the network of the Naxalites. Naxalites’ brutality has not even spared the families of the SPOs. Many SPOs have been killed, only to discourage them from associating with the police.
The number of policemen who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty was about ten only until 2004, but this number shot up nearly eight-fold in the last four years. Similarly, the number of civilians killed by the Naxalites was less than 70 till 2004, but swelled to more than 200 in 2006. This further strengthens the fact that the Maoists were afraid of the people’s resistance groups which had rejected their ideology in their own stronghold. The attacks on schools, panchayats and ashram buildings have unravelled their hollow talk of development. They are even opposed to developmental works. Schemes like ‘Jantana Sarkaar’ are being propagated only to hide their ugly face, smeared with cold blood. A country which was built on the edifice of non-violence cannot accept the ideology of armed struggle for class annihilation. Such mindless brutal killings by the Maoists must act as a wake-up call for civil society.
The writer is a senior police officer of Chhattisgarh
The Indian Express- October 9, 2009
India Battles ‘Red Terror’
The Maoist-Naxalite threat turns up the heat in India, with extremists on the rampage, attacking civilians and killing 17 police officers this month, and the government preparing for a major military offensive, Animesh Roul writes for ISN Security Watch.
By Animesh Roul in New Delhi for ISN Security Watch
In a brutal show of force, hundreds of left-wing extremists (also known as Maoists or Naxalites) attacked a police unit killing 17 officers in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district on 8 October, despite threats from state and federal governments of a strong military response if extremists failed to renounce violence.
Earlier that week, Maoists extremists beheaded an abducted senior police official in Chhattisgarh state following a failed bid to swap jailed Maoists leaders.
Reacting to the latest Taliban-style execution, Minster of Home Affairs P Chidambaram told local media that the violence was a possible response to the arrest of some senior CPI-Maoist leaders.
Samarji, Maoist leader in Jharkhand, had reportedly demanded through local media that the abducted police official be swapped for three recently arrested cadres — Kobad Ghandy, Chhattradhar Mahato and Chandra Bhushan Yadav.
Maoists have been targeting legislators, security officials and government properties in regular intervals in their so-called Red Corridor, which comprises swathes of territory including parts central and eastern India.
According to government sources, the extremists control nearly 40,000 square kilometers across 20 states.
The Indian government now concedes that the Naxalites pose one of the greatest threats to the country’s security.In India, left-wing extremism emerged from a place called Naxalbari in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal in 1967 under the leadership of Charu Mazumdar. Since then, the movement has come a long way from what was a rather small-scale local rebellion of farmers and tribal peoples.
Maoists in India, as elsewhere, have adopted the ‘Protracted People’s War’ (PPW) as the strategy to achieve their political objective. The PPW is divided into three phases: occupy the land; step up the guerilla struggle; and bring power to the people.
Urbanizing terror
Speaking to ISN Security Watch, Rajat Kujur, co-author of Maoism in India: Reincarnation of Ultra Left Wing Extremism in the Twenty-First Century (Routledge, 2009, Forthcoming), said that some significant changes [have] occurred in the Maoist modus operandi of late.” He said that the Maoists were moving away from the traditional guerilla formula of ambush towards a novel hit-and-run formula and an urban strategy.
There been violent clashes between armed tribal groups backed by Maoists and security forces in West Bengal’s Nandigram, Singur and Lalgarh areas over land acquisition by the state government. And of late, many Maoists cadres from Indian metropolises including New Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur and Hyderabad have been arrested.
According to Kujur, these developments should largely have been expected.
“Encircling the Urban areas definitely is a Maoist technique,” Kujur said, explaining that “once the guerilla warfare reaches a point, the classic Maoist formula says they must start encircling the cities, which they are doing now.”
Nihar Nayak, Maoist expert at the New Delhi-based Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses (IDSA), agrees. “In their mass mobilization effort, Maoists are now garnering support from intellectuals, students, slum dwellers, minority populations and laborers in the Cities and towns,” he told ISN Security Watch.
“In urban areas, the CPI Maoist has been forming a Tactical United Front with organizations that oppose the Indian State. It has also infiltrated existing trade unions and plans to float new ones in all big companies both for political and funding purposes.”
In a recent interview with a national daily, Koteshwar Rao, a politburo member of the CPI (Maoists) in charge of their West Bengal, Orissa and Jharkand operations, disclosed they had joined forces with northeast separatist groups and Islamist organizations in order to fight the Indian government.
Nayak recalled that “the CPI-Maoist’s January 2007 resolution had prompted the extremists to reach out to Muslims and other minorities to spread the movement throughout the country.”
On the offensive
The government is planning a multi-pronged military operation in ‘hot pursuit’ of extremists that will include a developmental package for tribal regions starting in mid-October.
The scheduled military campaign, now dubbed the ‘October Offensive,’ will be carried out with help from civilian and military agencies such as the Anti- Maoist Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) force, the Indian air force, the Indian Space Research Organization, paramilitary forces such as the Central Reserve Police Force and the Border Security Force.
“This will be the first time India will wage such a military offensive, though not a full-fledged war against its own people.”
However, “We do not consider this as our own Swat [referring to anti-Taliban operations in neighboring Pakistan] at all, as media are painting it,” a senior security official involved in the operation told ISN security Watch under condition of anonymity.
Nayak plays down the euphoria of a military offensive to root out Maoist extremism in India. He underscores that this “cannot be a long term solution to the protracted Maoist insurgency in the country.
“Historical evidence suggests that even if the state managed to suppress the movement for some time, the Maoist movement would [return] with new vigor and manifest itself in most a virulent form,” he said.
Similar views are expressed by Mahendra Kumawat, a former paramilitary chief who was quoted in The Telegraph (Kolkata, 4 October). In charge of anti-Naxalite operations in his earlier capacity, Kumawat questioned the government’s ‘crackdown first - development-later strategy’ and urged it to refrain from a “strike policy” that only involves bloodshed and disruption.
Kujur concurred, saying, “This military campaign and economic overtures notwithstanding, the government needs to ensure that the people of those affected regions enjoy the benefits of good governance.”
“Again, one needs to understand that Naxalism is a political problem and it needs to be solved politically,” he added.
