Naxalite Violence and Internal Security
13 Jul, 2001 · 523
Wg. Cdr. NK Pant concludes that the objective of the naxalites is to capture power through armed struggle
Till now in
India
, the curse of insurgency has been restricted to the fringe regions such as Jammu & Kashmir and the North Eastern states. But there are indications of spilling into the nation’s interior regions. The ghastly killings, landmine blasts, extortion and abductions by the People’s War Group (PWG) in Andhra Pradesh and adjoining tribal belts of Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra
and Orissa have started bleeding the country in the heartland itself.
Bihar
and Jharkhand by members of the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC). Affiliated terrorist organisations are also active in strategic north
Bengal
, a vital link to our North Eastern states and bordering
Nepal
,
Bangladesh
and
Bhutan
. There are solid pointers proving that these two anti national armed organisations are working together. But the apocalyptic factor seems be their surreptitious liaison with the Maoist insurgents of Nepal whose writ runs large in several districts of the neighbouring mountain kingdom.
India
. The Purulia arms drop case explains the mystery of foreign involvement in which the AN-26 transport aircraft flown by hired crew had first landed in
Karachi
airport before making the final circuitous sortie to drop a large consignment of small arms in eastern part of
India
for a planned future use of various insurgent groups. Does it not suggest the hidden hand of
Pakistan
’s notorious ISI? According to experienced intelligence experts, there have been indications of assistance to Maoists from intelligence services of
Pakistan
,
China
and its client state
North Korea
who could have been acting in tandem or separately. The official myopic mindset, therefore, of treating the movement as a little more than a law and order problem to be tackled at the level of the provincial armed constabulary needs to be rectified. Otherwise there are strong possibilities of such a turmoil turning into a full fledged insurgency in not too a distant future on the lines of those being encountered in the North Eastern region or the state of
Jammu and Kashmir
.
North Telengana
,
Bihar
and Jharkhand. It is understood that well organised platoons and special action teams set up on military pattern, would be the mainstay of this anti national element which intends to launch a sustained campaign to recruit dedicated youth in order to build up a strong network in the country with the aim of countering the “ growing influence of imperialist forces”. The aim of this sinister PWG—MCC combine is to capture power through the strategy of protracted armed struggle initially concentrating attention in remote rural and tribal areas.
New Delhi
also has sound reasons to get worried at the rapid growth of the Maoist insurgency across the large part of
Nepal
and its clandestine connection with parallel violent leftist movements in
India
. Despite the fact that the Union government’s hands are fully tied in dealing with complex security situations in
Kashmir
and the North Eastern states, it has to take some drastic steps to crush the PWG-MCC menace raising its head in several states. Apart from initiating some stringent measures against the rising leftist extremism, the government will have to take some concrete measures in the important areas of poverty alleviation in the remote rural pockets and tribal regions affected by the Naxalite menace. Because, it is the poor, ignorant, unemployed and the deprived who fall easy prey to PWG- MCC propaganda
The gory incidents, showing a steady upward graph, have an ominous message. Similar brutal acts are being increasingly perpetrated in
In fact, the writing is literally on the wall and may be considered as the opening phase of an organised terrorist movement in the country, obviously taking shape with the covert help of foreign intelligence agencies inimical to
The overt origin of these terrorist groups can be traced to the Communist Party of India-Marxist, Leninist (CPI-ML) which came into existence in mid 1960s after the Indian Communists split in the wake of the Chinese aggression. The PWG, which can be termed as a parallel ultra leftist movement like CPI-ML , was set up in Telengana region of Andhra Pradesh in 1980. It is believed to have several thousand over-ground and underground workers, many of them are equipped with AK-47 rifles, carbines, revolvers, pistols, double and single barrel guns, country made weapons and landmines. The source of funds to procure such large array of weaponry needs to be investigated. The PWG has killed more than two hundred police personnel in Andhra Pradesh where its victims have been politicians, landlords and even one of the ministers.
The coming portentous events have already started casting their shadows. The activists of PWG and MCC have reportedly formed a People’s Guerilla Army at several places such as Dandkaranya,
POPULAR COMMENTARIES
