Stop the charge of red brigade

Last Monday, armed Maoists stormed into a passenger train near the dense forest between Barkhakhan (Jharkhand) and Mughalsarai (Uttar Pradesh). Had this been an isolated incident, there would not have been so much panic. But the Maoist violence is on the rise, which should worry the Central and the affected State governments.

The red corridor is expanding rapidly, with almost 40 per cent of the country's land area affected by Leftwing extremism. At least 25 per cent of our elected representatives in Assemblies and Parliament seek the support of Maoists. This is indeed a dangerous trend.

One needs to see the plight of the Telengana Rashtra Samithi in this regard. Not being able to get the separate Telengana State, their legislators had to resign under pressure of the Maoists. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Rajashekhara Reddy had to invite the extremists to talks because of his pre-poll promise, but the effort failed due to the lack of preparations on both sides.

The red corridor consists of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Haryana - 12 States to be exact.

The Maoist leadership has devised a new technique to engage in multiple attacks simultaneously, particularly against police. Official figures reveal that a total of 183 policemen were killed in 2005 in 184 attacks, as against 100 in 232 such attacks in 2004.

A few months back, the Jehanabad jail break by the Maoists to free their colleagues showcased the loopholes in the system. While Maoists possess sophisticated arms, the jail personnel are not provided with proper weapons. In recent times, there have been brutal attacks in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. Why is the Government not able to tackle the Maoist problem?

The Home Ministry reports reveal that the Government is seriously concerned about the growing Maoist violence. "This continues to persist in terms of spread, intensity of violence, militarisation and coordination, ominous linkages with subversive groups and increased efforts to elicit mass support," according to a status report released by the Home Ministry last week. It also admits that Maoists operate in a vacuum created by the absence of administrative and political institutions, espouse the local demands and take advantage of the disenchantment among the exploited people by promising an alternative system of governance. They hold jan adalats to dispense instant justice. In fact, 114 jan adalats were held in 2005 as against 155 in the previous year.

The violence profile of the Maoists is quite alarming. In 2005, they took 669 lives, including 153 police officials, in 1,594 incidents - as against 560 casualties in 1533 incidents in 2004. In 2006, the violence has decreased by 29 per cent, but civilian and security forces casualties have increased by 11 per cent. The first two months of the current year have witnessed some major Maoist attacks in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

Compared to the days of Charu Mazumdar and Kanu Sanyal , or even the era of Ganapathi and Kondapalli Sitharamiah, the Maoists have no known leaders today. Even their dalams do not know their chiefs. Those who mastermind the operations do so in complete secrecy. This makes it difficult for the Government to control it.

What is the Government's strategy vis-a-vis the Maoists? Currently, it wants to strengthen intelligence setup at the State level, pursue effective and sustained intelligence with the help of State governments and accelerate development in the Maoist-affected areas.

This is easier said than done. Take the case of Jharkhand, where the train hijack took place. The poor tribals are the real sufferers. They have no mid-day meal schemes, no credit facilities and not much education, except what is provided by Christian missionaries. Simdega is the poorest district in India, followed by Gumla. How could the Maoists not get the sympathy of these people?

Who are the Maoists? A loose definition could be that they are groups waging a violent struggle for the landless and tribals against landlords and others. They claim they are fighting to end oppression to form a classless society. Their ultimate aim is to capture power through bullet. Their opponents say they are terrorists.

Many Maoist groups operate under different names. The CPI(ML) is a political outfit that propagates Maoist ideology; there are many such frontal organisations. Their ultimate aim is to overthrow the existing system, and that is why they are targeting politicians and police officials. In the 1960s and '70s, the Maoist movement was popular because several brilliant students joined it. Charu Mazumdar and Kanu Sanyal became household name. The movement is catching on once again, joined by educated people such as lawyers, doctors, college students and teachers. Their strength is estimated to be about five lakh.

The Maoists depend on fresh recruitment and militarisation of their cadres. Their training camps are mainly in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. Besides looting police weapons, they receive arms through Bangladesh. The Nepal Maoists, too, play an important role in strengthening their striking capabilities.

Maoist leaders systematically coordinate and execute their plans. Experts point out that the only time they failed to execute their plan was when they targeted then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu in October 2003. However, the failure was less due to lack of planning and more because of a technical error. Experts say it took nearly seven years for Leftwing extremists to plan the expansion of the red corridor from Nepal to Karnataka. According to security experts, Maoists possess between 30,000 and 50,000 weapons.

The Government must understand that the Maoists pose more than just a law and order problem. Allocating money is not enough; it has to reach the right quarters. Coordination between the Centre and States and also among the affected States is vital. Delhi has just decided to provide more protection to trains, particularly in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar.

Meanwhile, the Centre has revealed a 14-point programme which includes pursuing a coordinated response to counter Maoist problem and asking political parties to strengthen their base in the affected areas. The State governments will be asked to deal with Maoists more effectively. However, for that, the plans have to be executed as meticulously as Maoists do. Only then will the positive results be forthcoming.

There are three possible scenarios. One, the situation remains the same; two, it deteriorates further; last, the Maoist violence is contained. Only the determination of the Government will tell which one of the three will come true.

Indian tribe takes up bows, arrows to fight Maoists (India)
Reuters ^ | 3/17/06 | Simon Denyer

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1598938/posts

Posted on 03/18/2006 9:35:06 PM EST by wagglebee

DORNAPAL, India (Reuters) - Clutching their bows and arrows, a group of tribesmen and young boys mill around outside a crude refugee camp in the forests of central India.

Prompted by politicians and prodded by the police, more than 46,000 people have fled their villages in the past nine months to join a new campaign against Maoist guerrillas, or Naxalites, who have added misery and terror to their crushing poverty.

"Twenty-five years ago, the Naxalites promised us land, they promised us a better life, but they have given us nothing," said 34-year-old Kiche Rama. "All they are doing is killing us."

"All the tribals here are very angry, so angry that if we end up finding a Naxal among us, we will straight away kill him."

The Naxalites, named after a town in West Bengal state where the movement was launched in 1967, pretend to be latter-day Robin Hoods, robbing from the rich to give to the poor.

For a while, they were popular in one of India's poorest and least developed regions -- but today it is the very people the Naxalites claim to represent who have taken up bows and arrows to defend themselves.

More and more tribesmen are fleeing to ill-protected camps run by the anti-Maoist Salwa Judum (Campaign for Peace) movement in Chhattisgarh state.

"Before, we were a little afraid because they had guns," said Rama, a long, sharp knife in his hand. "But now the government is with us. They told us, 'Pick up your bows and arrows and we will be with you'. Now we are confident."

CIVILIANS IN THE FIRING LINE

Behind him, 3,000 people shelter from the blazing sun under blue tarpaulins at a new camp at Dornapal in southern Chhattisgarh, many sleeping in the open on a carpet of leaves.

Bows and arrows lean against every tree, plastic bags carry their few belongings. A paramilitary camp over the road offers a degree of protection to this camp, but not to those left behind in the villages. Other camps are virtually unguarded.

"The Naxalites say they will kill anyone who has joined the Salwa Judum, they will murder our families, they will burn our houses and take everything we have," said Bardkham Raja, a sarpanch, or village head, who fled his village last month.

"If you have more cattle, they take it from you and sometimes redistribute it. If you have more money they just take it away. If you complain, they beat you or kill you.

"That is why we don't want to live there."

The state government has high hopes the Salwa Judum campaign could help to finish nearly four decades of Maoist insurgency.

But all the campaign has achieved so far is to turn southern Chhattisgarh into a virtual war zone, with civilians in the firing line as the Maoists fight back ruthlessly.

People are dying almost every day, 55 in a land mine attack on a truckload of Salwa Judum members on February 28.

The civilian death toll in Chhattisgarh -- just one of nine states where Maoists operate -- may have already overtaken last year's official tally of 127 people.

"It is a cause for concern and we are trying to protect people as best we can," Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh told Reuters. "But the Salwa Judum is probably the biggest movement ever against Naxalism, and if it succeeds the whole Naxal problem can be finished in this country."

An ill-trained and thinly deployed police force, backed by 4,000 paramilitary troops, are in no shape to end the killings in Chhattisgarh, with tens of thousands of square miles either under total Maoist control or dominated by the rebels.

"The first duty of the state is to protect its citizens," said Ajay Sahni of the Institute for Conflict Management, a New Delhi think tank. "It cannot put the lives of its citizens at risk."

"Provoking the people to resist the terrorists in regions that are immensely under-policed will only invite retaliation and untold suffering on the heads of the innocent," he said.

THE RED ZONE

In Dornapal, 18-year-old Raju Sori wants revenge on the Maoists for killing his father seven years ago. He has joined up as a "Special Police Officer," a ragbag militia recruited by the authorities in an attempt to level the playing field in the intelligence war.

Hundreds of recruits have been trained, and guns promised -- but only a few dozen seem to have been distributed so far. Not knowing who to trust, police admit they are worried the weapons could end up in Naxal hands.

The Indian government has tried similar schemes in the past to combat insurgencies in Punjab and Kashmir, recruiting locals to act as policemen or to defend villages in more secure areas.

But it is reckless and irresponsible to put boys like Sori in the frontline in an area dominated by the rebels, says Sahni.

All Sori has received so far is a small piece of white cloth pinned to his shorts, with his name and "S.P.O" written in pen. He carries a small homemade baton painted light blue.

"With the security forces, we will go into the jungle and chase them away," he said. "We want to end the Naxalites."

It may be a vain hope, with the police and paramilitary forces unable to even set foot in what they call the "Red Zone," a Maoist safe haven covering 4,600 square miles in the Abujh Marh (Unknown Forest).

Human rights groups such as the leftist People's Union for Civil Liberties say villagers are being forced to join the Salwa Judum, their houses and crops burned, and allege that up to a 100 people may have been killed by the activists in the past few months.

The government denies this, but officials admit it is impossible to be neutral in the villages of southern Chhattisgarh any more.

"We've been going from village to village asking people to join the movement," said Salwa Judum leader and Congress party politician Mahendra Karma. "If you want to join, come with us. If not, you are with the Maoists. There is no in between here."

It is not a choice every villager revels in.

"People here are caught in a vice, either by the Maoists or the politicians," said Swayam Nagesh, a sarpanch from the village of Eraboru. "No one will allow us to live freely."

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