IAS officer from TN abducted by Maoists in Chhattisgarh
Two Securitymen Shot Dead During Village Meeting
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Raipur/Bhopal: Maoists pulled off an audacious kidnapping of the district collector of Sukma in southern Chhattisgarh on Saturday,killing two of his bodyguards when they tried to stop them.The 32-year-old collector,Alex Paul Menon,a native of Tirunelveli in south Tamil Nadu,was meeting with a group of villagers for a government outreach programme. A 2006 batch IAS officer,Menon was tracked by the Maoists as he reached Manjipara village in the tribal Bastar region on Saturday afternoon,according to the police. Around 90 Maoists reached the spot and shot dead two personal security officers of the collector before taking him into the nearby forest, said additional director general of police Ram Niwas.The rebels,he said,spared the sub-divisional magistrate S K Vaidya,who was present in Manjipara village. The collector was abducted even as uncertainty looms over the fate of BJD MLA Jhina Hikaka,who is being held captive by Maoists,and days after the Supreme Court questioned the Odisha government on the release of Maoists from prisons in exchange for hostages. The collector was abducted at gunpoint between 4.30 and 5pm.The Maoists were apparently waiting for him for over an hour at the function in the village as a part of the governments Gram Swaraj Abhiyan,a village contact programme, a government spokesman told TOI from Raipur. For the past two weeks,he was cautious not to get into their hands.But today it was unavoidable as he had to take part in the meeting with farmers, said Asha,who got married to Menon just six months ago and is three months pregnant. A tearful Asha,who spoke to mediapersons in Chhattisgarh,pleaded with the Maoists to release her husband.
AUDACIOUS STRIKE
Around 90 Maoists blend in with villagers at an outreach programme in Manjipara,Bastar Take Sukma collector Alex Paul Menon at gunpoint around 4.30pm after killing his two bodyguards First time that the Maoist group in Dandakaranya has targeted a senior administrative official.Abductions were limited to constables so far
PC assures Chhattisgarh all help to trace collector
Raipur/Bhopal: Maoists kidnapped Alex Paul Menon,the 32-year-old district collector of Sukma in southern Chhattisgarh and a native of Tirunelveli in south Tamil Nadu on Saturday.It is suspected that the rebels have taken the collector deep inside the forests of Kerlapal,some of which are suspected to be heavily mined by the Maoists. A police team led by DSP Abhishek Shandilya has launched a search operation to try and rescue the collector,said Ram Niwas.A special team was formed to join the effort after director general of police A M Nawani held an emergency meeting with other police brass. Chief minister Raman Singh said every effort will be made to secure the collectors release,even as home minister P Chidambaram spoke to Singh assuring his administration of all help from the Centre.Sources said Chidambaram also called for a report on the incident,which is being seen as reflecting Maoists anxiety to dispel any perception that successful strikes by security forces may have weakened them. The incident has evoked concerned reactions from friends and batch mates in Tamil Nadu.Said G Laxmi Priya,commissioner,disciplinary proceedings Tirunelveli and an IAS batch mate of Alex Paul Menon,I still recollect how happy he was when he received news about his posting as a civil servant in strife ridden district of Chattisgarh. Menon is viewed by his peers as an enthusiastic officer who took his job as the district collector of Sukma,considered to be the worst-affected district in the country,as a mission.He had gone to a place near Keralapal on motorcycle along with others as part of gram swaraj abhiyan.The exercise aims at improving basic services in Sukma. CRPF officials claimed that the abductors had not made any demand for Alex Pauls release so far.They said he was not on any Maoist hit-list.The district administration,they said,did not follow protocol and failed to inform the nearest police station or the CRPF camp about the district collectors visit.Alex Paul Menon had arrived on a motorcycle to the function at the village.There are no demands for his release at the moment.No prior information about the function was passed on to the nearest police station or CRPF camp, said a senior CRPF official (operations),Chattisgarh when contacted over the phone.
Wife Says For The Last 2 Weeks He Was Cautious Not To Get Into Their Hands
V Mayilvaganan TNN
Madurai: The last words his staff heard Alex V F Paul Menon utter before he was whisked away by armed Maoists at Kerlapal village in Chhattisgarh were,I am the collector.His wife Asha Menon later narrated the sequence of events.It was a terrible scene.A gang of about 20 to 30 armed Maoists shot to death two of his guards.But when one of the Maoists shouted,Who is the collector ,Alex did not lose his cool and composure.He took a step forward and identified himself, said Asha,who married Paul just six months ago,and is three months pregnant.Asha herself appeared composed when TOI spoke to her over phone despite the gravity of the incident and the flurry of meetings and telephone calls right from the Chhattisgarh chief minister to senior police officials. Asha was at their official residence when information about her husbands abduction reached her around 5pm,half-an-hour after the incident. It was most shocking.Almost every government official in Chhattisgarh is a target for the Maoists.So we were aware about the threat.For the past two weeks,he was cautious not to get into their hands.But today it was unavoidable as he had to take part in the Gram Swaraj meeting with farmers, said Asha. A Dantewada resident and a friend of Menons,Pradeep Kumar Dwivedi,said it was like a scene out of a celluloid film.It all happened in two or three minutes.Once the collector identified himself,the Maoists ordered him to board a vehicle.An unflustered Menon told them in a calm voice he suffered from asthma and wanted his medicine bag.He then took the medicines and his laptop and got into the vehicle of the Maoists, said Dwivedi. Alex Paul Menon,son of a retired headmaster,Paul Menon,was born and brought up as a middle class boy in Tirunelveli where he completed his schooling.He did his engineering in the R V S Institute of Technology in Dindigul.Alex Paul cleared IRS initially and made it to IAS only in his fourth attempt in 2006 and bagged the 121st rank. He had a great love for Tamil literature.That was why he chose Tamil literature along with history for his civil services exams, said K S Nagarajan,a software consultant in Chennai and Menons friend.Nagarajan had visited Chhattisgarh a year back. Paul was well-liked by his staff and the local villagers.He was prodevelopment rather than anti-Maoist and was never after them.Instead,he believed in uplift of people through implementation of government schemes like MNREGA.He had even won awards from the Chhattisgarh government, said Nagarajan,who knew Menon for seven years.Madurai superintendent of police Asra Garg,also a friend of Menon,said he was a highly disciplined and determined officer.
Helicopters were kept on standby for casualty evacuation, targets were chosen with care after studying satellite images and the troops were warned — the encounters would be fierce and the naxals could be in the hundreds, even thousands.
After weeks of planning, security forces armed with automatic rifles, satellite phones and Swedish Carl Gustav rocket launchers made their very first foray into the dense Abujhmad jungle, straddling the two states of Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. Abujhmad, or ‘unknown hill’ — 6,000 sq km of thick forest — has not been surveyed since the British.
As part of the operation, security forces had zoomed in on a map of the area with the help of Google Earth, on to a couple of structures they identified as a ‘naxal camp’. A plan was prepared to go in and take out the naxalites. The mission had a second aim — the stronghold had to be psychologically breached, since it is as much home to the naxals as it is a zone ‘liberated’ of all government control.
Primed for a fierce fight, weapons ready, the troops marched 70 km to the ‘naxal camp’.
What they found instead was a village with 15 to 20 thatched huts. The cluster of buildings the forces saw for the first time on Google Earth were homes of Muria tribals, startled at the sight of armed men in uniform.
“Nobody knew there was a village called Bodiguda,” CRPF DIG (operations) S Elango exclaimed, of a village that had been discovered for the first time since Independence.
The nameless, faceless tribals — who have never seen or heard of electricity or water taps, schools or dispensaries, men or machines — have grown up believing the naxals are the government. The rebels bring them rice and medicines and take care of their daily needs. They’ve never seen transport or ration through PDS; what they are familiar with is the Red army.
The closest to civilisation is a larger village — or town — called Behramgarh, 29 km away, which also has a police station but the tribals of Bodiguda seldom venture there.
The grand strategy — to control the naxal spread — is to clear, hold and develop. Last month’s security operation that took weeks of planning ended with a one-hour exchange of fire in the jungles. Two injured jawans, no naxal arrests, and yes, the discovery of Bodiguda.
Early this week, home minister P Chidambaram, speaking of the Red threat to chief ministers, said they did not have the upper hand because “there are not enough men, weapons and vehicles, not enough roads, and not enough… civil administration.” He could well have added another line — and some states don’t know of villages where our own live.
Bhopal/Jagdalpur: Maoists late Monday night issued a statement,naming three interlocutors for negotiations to release Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon. The statement also said that Menons health condition was critical.Former National SC/ST Commission head B D Sharma,Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan and Manish Kunjam,national secretary of Adivasi Mahasangh have been chosen for negotiations and asked to come to Tadmetla village in Chhattisgarhs Dantewada district. The statement,signed by South Bastar divisional committee secretary Vijay Markam,was sent soon after an allparty meeting was held by Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh in Raipur on Monday.The Maoists called the meet a delaying tactic by the state in securing the release of Menon and also warned that the government would be responsible if anything happened to the collector. Justifying their stand of not including Swami Agnivesh,Maoists said he was harassed by the state government earlier and that they want to spare him the ordeal this time.Earlier,Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh expressed his governments willingness to talk to Maoists for Menons releasefrom their captivity.Singh said he was willing to discuss their demands after chairing an allparty meeting to discuss the issue. He insisted that no anti-Maoist green hunt operation was being carried out anywhere in the state in response to the rebels demand for its halt besides withdrawal of all security forces for Menons release.
Hikaka completes 30 days in captivity
BJD MLA Jhina Hikaka on Monday completed a month in captivity even as all including Odisha government were waiting for the peoples court proposed by the naxals to decide the fate of the tribal legislator by April 25.The Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee of CPI (Maoist) has announced that the MLAs fate would be decided by a peoples court by April 25,but there is no information about its exact time and venue.Reports indicated that the court could be held in Koraput district as both the abductors and the state government stick to their stands over the hostage crisis of the MLA.AGENCIES
15-Km Stretch Under Scanner;Forces To Exercise Restraint
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The search for abducted Sukma collector Alex Paul Menon has narrowed down to a forested stretch 15 km from Manjipara in Chhatisgarh,with an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) relaying images of a group of Maoists suspected to be holding the official near the Odisha border. Although such details would have been useful for an operation,security forces have been instructed to exercise restraint in order to ensure the safe release of Menon who was kidnapped on Saturday while surveying the implementation of development schemes in Sukma,considered to be the worst Naxal-affected district in the country. Latest imagery sent by the UAV shows a gathering of 300-400 suspected Maoists in the area.Although it may not help the forces which have been asked to remain in camps at this juncture for the sake of Menons safety,the idea is to get as much information as possible for any action,if needed, a top home ministry official said. Chhattisgarh government had on Sunday asked security forces to scale down pro-active anti-Naxal operations and remain low key in the region,but it has been tracking the movement of Maoists through the UAV. Sources here said the Chhattisgarh government was trying to handle the hostage situation differently from Odisha.Even as the Raman Singh government wanted to open channels with the Maoists for safe release of the collector,it refused to vacate the area. Efforts are being made by state government to first send medicines for Menon who is an asthma patient, he said. The Centre on Monday took stock of the situation in a high-level meeting chaired by home minister P Chidambaram,and sent an advisory to all Naxal-affected states asking them to frame Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) having dos and donts for civil administration officials and politicians in Maoist zones. Since district collectors and other senior officials have always been on Maoists hit list,it is advisable to move in the area with adequate forces after doing proper sanitization exercise and informing local police station,unlike what Menon did, a home ministry official said. After the meeting,attended by national security advisor Shivshankar Menon and Intelligence Bureau chief Nehchal Sandhu,Union home secretary R K Singh said,We are in regular touch with the state government.Whatever support is needed by them is being given,will be given. Officials are learnt to have also discussed exploring the option of having some guidelines to deal with hostage situations in Naxal-affected states as there is no set policy,leaving individual states to handle the situation on their own with the Centre chipping in only when asked. An official said this option would,however,be discussed with all states in due course and any guidelines,if any,would be framed with consent of all stakeholders. Security forces have observed that the abduction was being done by the ultras to compel the forces,who had gained solid ground after stepping up offensives in Maoist zones,to scale down or end their operations in the areas.The Naxals had tasted success of this strategy after the abduction of then Malkanigiri district collector R Vineel Krishna last year when they had not only got their cadres released but also made security forces substantially scale down operations. The ultras repeated the strategy in March this year when they abducted two Italians and BJD MLA Jhina Hikaka.The Odisha government not only stopped all operations against them since March 18 but also agreed to release 25 Naxals.Though the ultras released the Italians,they have still kept Hikaka captive looking for bigger bargain.Incidentally,Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh had talked about the Naxals new strategy only a week before Menons abduction.Speaking at the chief ministers conference on internal security,Singh had on April 16 reminded the participants about the ultras strategy saying,It is now clear that the Naxalites are trying to gain control in areas with abundant natural resources through their terror tactics using abduction as a strategic weapon in their fight. It is noticed that in both Odisha and Chhattisgarh abduction cases,husbands of women ultras were at the forefront to save their wives by getting them released.While in Odisha,CPI (Maoist) state organizing committee secretary Sabyasachi Panda had bargained for release of his wife Subhashree Das alias Mili Panda in exchange for the Italians,Dandkaranya zonal committee leader Vijay Reddy alias Gundsa Usendi is learnt to have been behind the abduction of Menon with the help of other top ultras including Ramanna.
The dense forests of Sukma,through which Lord Ram is believed to have travelled during his 14-year exile,has been known as an epicentre of Maoist activities in Chhattisgarh much before the districts first collector Alex Paul Menon was abducted by the rebels after gunning down two of his bodyguards on April 21. Located on the states southernmost tip,the tri-junction of Chhattisgarh,Orissa and Andhra Pradesh,many areas of improvised Sukma district form part of the so-called liberated zone of Dandakaranya of the Maoists where they are supposed to be running a parallel government. The perennial river Sabari,which flows through Sukma district,is said to be named after Shabari,a tribal woman who had offered berries to Lord Rama. Many roads in this region are heavily mined by the rebels,who had also blown up school buildings and dug up roads.With Sukma bordering Malkangiri in Orissa and Khamman district of Andhra,Maoists could strike and move to any of the three states within a radius of 5km. Most of the incidents of Naxalite violence in Dantewada Including the brutal massacre of 76 security personnel,including 75 from the CRPF in 2010 had taken place in the areas now falling in the newly formed Sukma district,which had come into existence this year on January 1. In 2006,the Maoists set ablaze a relief camp at Errabore,killing 33 people including women and children.In May 2010,the rebels blew up a bus,carrying civilians and security personnel killing 44 people. Remote areas,now in Sukma district,had witnessed large scale violence since June 2005,after the controversial anti-naxalite movement Salwa Judum spread to the areas leading to escalation of tension between the Peoples Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA),the military wing of the CPI (Maoist),and the para-military forces. During the peak of Salwa judum,the rebels blew up almost every school building in the villages to ensure that the security personnel are not housed in these buildings. There have been indications that the Maoists have been gearing up to pick up and train its third generation cadres from the border areas of these three states,a senior state intelligence officer said. The 58-kilometre stretch of kaccha road from Dornapal to Jagargunda is the one that help keep the Maoist grip intact over many parts of Sukma district.The rebels have dug up this road at many places,blew up culverts and laid landmines at several places in this stretch. On this route,there are camps of paramilitary forces at Dornapal,Pollampalli,Kankerlanka,Chintalnar,Chintagufa and Jagargunda,and it can take up to four days or even more for the forces carrying food and other materials to cross the 58km distance.Before every movement,a road opening party (ROP) scans the road for any landmines.For every movement,one requires a convoy and security.Till recently,helicopter was preferred to airlift ration and other essentials to a relief camp at Jagargunda. Chhattisgarh PWD minister Brijmohan Agrawal told TOI that the issue of construction of Dornapal-Jagargunda road has been discussed many times,but every time it has hit a roadblock with contractors backing out and the police pleading that they do not have sufficient forces to provide security cover to those engaged in the construction of roads in the area. After his posting as first collector of Sukma,Alex Paul Menon had tried to address the issue of road construction.His plan was to involve the locals,who are aware about the terrain and circumstances,in road construction activities,sources said.
CRIME SCENE: Combination of photos show where IAS officer Alex Paul Menon was attacked and kidnapped by naxals in Sukma district
Snigdhendu Bhattacharya and Koushik Dutta letters@hindustantimes.com
MAMATA TAKES ON MAOISTS IN LALGARH, CALLS THEM KILLERS
LALGARH: Mamata Banerjee did a complete U-turn on Maoists on Tuesday, when she called them “killers and cowards” and urged Lalgarh villagers to keep them out.
The West Bengal CM, in her last visit in 2010 to Lalgarh — the epicentre of Maoist insurgency in the state for last three years — had called the rebels her friends. This was in the runup to the state polls.
On Tuesday, however, she sang a different tune.
“Don’t allow those killers to come back in any form,” Banerjee said at her first public programme in Lalgarh, a block in West Midnapore district, since becoming the CM.
“They do not want peace. They do not believe in democracy. They want to terrorise people at gunpoint. They will disrupt development activities because they are anti-people,” she added from the dais at Lalgarh Ramkrishna School, about 150 km from Kolkata.
During her last trip, Banerjee had demanded withdrawal of the Centre-state combined forces, a judicial probe into the death of Cpi(maoist) spokesperson Azad, prayed for the peace of his soul and even called the Maoists friends.
Her rally 20 months ago — as the opposition leader — had drawn about 100,000 people. The turnout at the school ground for the joint programme of the state government and railways was not more than 10,000.
Those Kidnapped Were Protesting Against The Killing
Mazhar Ali TNN
Gadchiroli: A group of armed Maoists stormed Markegaon village in Mahatashtras Gadchiroli district,dragged two tribals from their homes and hacked them to death in front of other villagers on Thursday. Sources said 10 villagers were abducted for objecting to Devsay Usendi and Ram Narotes killing. State home department confirmed death of two civilians.However,the home department officials stated that they are yet to ascertain abduction of villagers by the Naxals.The Union home secretary had called state home department officials to get the details of the Naxal attack.The Union home department officials were informed that two people were killed,but report of abduction is not a correct, a senior home department official said. Meanwhile Maharashtra home minister R R Patil said,According to the preliminary reports from the police those killed were members of Naxal group. Sub-divisional police officer Homraj Rajput said two civilians were killed,but said they were unaware of the abductions.Police teams have been dispatched to the area, Rajput said.It was immediately unclear why the two were killed,but sources said the rebels suspected them to be police informers. Earlier,Maoists had killed 15 policemen in Markegaon on February 1,2009.Residents said they have since been caught between the Maoist and police onslaught. Maoists have so far killed six civilians in the district this month.They killed deputy sarpanch of Wangeturi gram panchayat Rainu Juru Kowse (40) on April 24,11 days after ex-zilla parishad member Kewal Atkamwar was killed in Etapalli. Former Maoist Pawankumar Bhalavi and husband of an ex-panchayat Samiti chairperson were killed in Arewada village on April 20.Gardewada gram panchayat sarpanch Chamru Joi was killed two days later. The rebels have been targeting political leaders in the area and have issued a warning to rural officebearers in local bodies to resign. The deadline mentioned in the Naxal warning expired on Thursday.There were no reports of any local bodies office-bearers having resigned.
FREEDOM AT LAST: BJD MLA Jhina Hikaka at Koraput on Thursday after being freed by the Maoists after 34 days of captivity
Bhubaneswar/Balipeta: Abducted BJD MLA Jhina Hikaka walked free after 33 days in Maoist captivity in Odishas Koraput district on Thursday. Asked if he had given a written undertaking to the Maoists that he would resign from the assembly and the party,Hikaka said a praja (peoples ) court was no platform to resign.I am not mentally prepared to comment on this now. In Bhubaneswar,CM Naveen Patnaik said,I am very glad and relieved as are all people in our state. To celebrate Hikakas release he ordered that Mahatma Gandhis favourite Ramdhun be played at his office. Balipeta in Koraputs Narayanpatna block is a stronghold of the Maoists and their frontal outfit Chasi Muliya Adivasi Sangh (CMAS). After the handover,Hikakas tribal escorts played an audio tape that had the MLA purportedly telling the praja court that he had failed as a peoples representative and that he would quit as a legislator after being released.The unusual Maoist demand for Hikakas resignation is being viewed as a move to clear the way for CMAS president Nachika Linga to electoral politics.Days after Hikaka was abducted,Linga had demanded his ouster. Holding an impromptu press conference,the legislator said he ate the same food as his captors and they moved him from one place to another at least thrice.They shared with me whatever food they ate and also gave me medicines.I did not have any significant medical problem and stayed with them all along.
Sukma (Chhattisgarh): After an excruciating 45-hour wait,Asha Menon was told on Thursday that her husband,Sukma collector Alex Paul Menon,was safe.The message was given to her former CPI legislator Manish Kunjam who had flown in to hand over medicines for the collector to his Maoist captors. Kunjam said he couldnt meet Menon,who is the first Chhattisgarh collector to be abducted by the Maoists.He got the medicines on Wednesday afternoon.They (Maoists) said he is absolutely fine, said Kunjam.The news brought relief to Asha,who has not been keeping well.On Thursday,too,doctors visited her and advised rest. There were concerns about Menon when the Maoists,in a press release late on Monday night,claimed his health was critical.Menons brother Anand confirmed,She is feeling better after hearing my brother is safe.Doctors have advised her rest. Kunjam was confident Menon would be released soon.The Chhattisgarh government has also taken some positive steps.I hope he will be freed soon, Kunjam said. There was no question,however,of him acting as an interlocutor for the Maoists,Kunjam said.There are several reasons why I declined.First,many people think I am a Maoist,or at least asympathizer.Many members of my party (CPI) were branded as the Maoists and arrested.They are languishing in jail.In such a situation,how can I mediate Also,my party told me not to. Kunjam had left the collectors bungalow at Sukma around 3.30pm on Tuesday with the medicines.Since then,there was no news of his whereabouts.Asha,pregnant with her first child,was distraught when state government officials failed to give her any update on her husband. Kunjam said he had travelled about 150-175 km on a motorcycle to the jungles and back to deliver the medicines.The Maoists met him beyond Tadmetla village.In 2010,75 CRPF men were killed by the Maoists at Tadmetla,south of Sukma.Some reporters had suggested that I should take medicines for Menon after I declined to mediate on behalf of the Maoists.The chief minister of Chhattisgarh also asked me if I could go with the medicines.It was important as the Maoists had said in a statement that he was critical, said Kunjam.
TN Congress MPs meet PM
New Delhi: Concerned over the safety of Sukma Collector Alex Paul Menon,who has been abducted by Maoists,Congress MPs from Tamil Nadu on Thursday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.The MPs K S Alagiri,Sudharsana Natchiappan,Ramasubbu,Manicka Tagore,N S V Chithan and Vishwanathan told Singh that all steps should be taken to ensure that the Collector is set free by Maoists.PTI
Manish Kunjam (right),former CPI MLA who handed over medicines to Alex Paul
04 May, 2012 Medha Patkar & Naxalism inter-linkages?
Above: Medha Patkar's Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) banner with threats to Government officials
V.K.Saxena
Everyone who argued that the naxal movement in India is an agrarian movement, born out of the rural disparities and denied development have to get his head flushed with fresh blood. There have been many agrarian movements in India that have achieved and led to rural development. Vinoba Bhave and Jayprakash Narain raised the issue of rural disparity and even politicians like Charan Singh and Babu Jagjivan Ram brought to fore the issue of rural development. They all had their contributions - big and small to the development of rural India and to the status of down-trodden. They did not pull the trigger of a gun nor kidnap a Government official responsible in a line department for development, to demonstrate their ideology or achieve their goals.
But the naxal movement has had strange attributes. It made us all believe that the movement is a reflection of rural and agrarian frustration about lack of development. If it was so, shouldn't they be receptive to the past 20 years of programmes and progress in their heartland by the moderate rulers of elected Governments? Why would they kidnap a collector of 'dalit' background who was known for his orientation to development and good deeds? Why would they kidnap an MLA who himself was a tribal and won the election with a thumping margin of 92000 votes from the tribal heartland? Why would they ambush police parties and the officials entering remote areas on duty to implement developmental schemes? Why would they stop people from reaching electoral booths and vote for a change? Why would they destroy schools and occupy school buildings and terrorize those who want a decent and modest education? Why would they kidnap tour operators and businessmen whose activities could lead to the development of the region? Why would they kill, plant bombs, rampage and destroy lives, infrastructure and property and spread fear and chaos? In a recent television debate on NDTV Mr. Jay Panda, Rajya Sabha member from Orrisa informed that government has constructed roads,school buildings,primary health centers and the electric connections in the remote areas of naxal heartland, as a part of development in those areas, which were earlier cut off from the main heartland. A naxal sympathiser/ideologue also participating in the debate, admitted these fact but could not answer why naxals were destroying these infrastructure, which the government has created for their own benefit.
What do naxals/maoists really want? Is their agrarian and development ideologies are just facades behind which the ugly and violent face of terrorism exists? Are they just another type of underworld terrorists?
There is yet another social brigade which some 8-10 years back operated in a similar fashion in Narmada Vally. Spearheaded by popular personalities like Medha Patkar, ..... etc., this brigade did not lie covered and underground. It operated right royally in the middle of our society and lived in the glory of media and visibility. It propagated a myth that the dalits and Project affected people (PAP) were to be emancipated with development. But when the development came to their door-steps, this brigade of over-world terrorists took to the streets, scuttled the projects, lobbied on international platforms against the country, painted a wrong picture of suffering and stood its ground to oppose everything that could be related to progress.They too had in a similar fashion, like naxals, destroyed schools,seed godowns,health center buildings etc constructed by the government for PAPs and even indulged in large scale violence to prevent the government officials from doing necessary surveys in the affected villages for their proper rehabilitation. When rural people affected by developmental programmes were given compensation, this brigade stood in between and terrorized the beneficiaries from accepting any relief. It separated rural masses from the progress and existed gloriously in the world press.
What do these pseudo-socialists really want? Is their ideology of social justice just a facade behind which their wily intentions and acts of sedition hide? Are they just over-world terrorists?
One group operates from the jungles in the cover of nights and destroys development in the name of naxalism. The other group operates from villages, towns and cities in the light of the day and decimates development. One lies underground while the other exists over-ground.
Similarity of approach and actions between these two groups in opposing much desired development requires a thorough investigation to find out their inter-linkages, if any.
It is time that the society recognized these evil faces for their true worth.
V.K. Saxena is President, National Council For Civil Liberties http://dharmanext.blogspot.in/2012/05/medha-patkar-naxalism-interlinkages.html
RED TERROR Naxals kill 6 CISF men,driver in Chhattisgarh
Raipur: Maoists Sunday night carried out a deadly attack on a patrol party of paramilitary Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district in which six jawans and a civilian driver were killed,police said. Additional Director General of Police (Maoist operation) Ramniwas said that the guerrillas ambushed the troopers around 9.30pm The incident took place at a mining checkpost at Kirandul town,420 km from Raipur.Reports said that after the incident the Maoists took away the troopers' assault rifles. Dozens of armed Maoists ambushed a vehicle carrying a patrol team of the CISF jawans and sprayed bullets all around.Six troopers were killed besides a civilian driver, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Narendra Khare said.Jawans of the district force were rushed to the site,the police said.Kirandul is situated in Bailadila hills where public sector National Mineral Development Corporation Ltd.(NMDC) mines two-third of its roughly 25 million tonnes annual iron ore output. The killings created a scare in the hilly area and dozens of NMDC miners were stuck at their work place for hours,said Ramniwas.AGENCIES
New Delhi: The Maoists are believed to be churning out low-cost rocket launchers from makeshift workshops,with parts sourced from industrial tool manufacturing units in Kolkata and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) reckons the ultras may have stockpiled 6,000 of these in the jungles of Chhattisgarh. The investigation agency believes the operation was being overseen by Sadanala Ramakrishna,who was recently arrested from Kolkata and was said to be the slain Maoist leader Kishanjis successor.
RED ROCKETS
Low-cost rocket launchers made in makeshift workshops Parts came from Kolkata tool manufacturing units Reds may have stockpiled 6,000 rocket launchers
The agency,which is investigating Ramakrishnas case,found that the chief of CPI (Maoist) Technical Research and Arms Management Unit may have already managed to send over 6,000 rocket launchers to Chhattisgarh.The agency found evidence that in his seven-month clandestine stay in Kolkata,the trained engineer from Warangal spent close to Rs 2 crore manufacturing ultra-low cost rocket launchers whose designs and assembling techniques were formulated by him. Pegged back by security forces across the country and having lost several senior functionaries to either encounters or arrests,sources said the CPI (Maoist) has been on the offensive and has sought to drastically improve its military capability.It was with this focus that Ramakrishna,known as RK in Maoist circles,replaced Kishanji in the party hierarchy and was entrusted with spreading Maoist activity in eastern India.There is information that CPI (Maoist) has earmarked about Rs 200 crore for weaponry and ammunition.We are trying to verify this, an officer privy to investigation details said.NIA sources said RK had established contact with at least four registered industrial tools manufacturing companies in Kolkata which regularly provided him parts such as seamless pipes,silver steel rods,end mill cutters and electrical and carpentry goods which were used to manufacture rocket launchers.We have questioned the companies and found that these goods were procured on the pretext of making boilers.RK would just send them specifications along with drawings made by him, said a senior NIA official. Sources said he then manufactured small spare parts like nuts,bolts and rings in makeshift workshops using lathe machine and got certain other parts from Mumbai where he was helped by another Maoist leader Aasimkumar Bhattacharya,currently under arrest by Maharashtra ATS.All these parts were then packed in wooden cartons and transported to Chhattisgarh where a CPI (Maoist) man would come and claim the goods.Launchers would then be assembled in the jungles.We have seized close to Rs 1 crore in cash which was to be used to manufacture more launchers.This has been declared as funds for terror activities, said the official.