Assam, Arunachal unite to counter Maoist menace
11 May 2012 5:00 AM GMT
A day after gunning down four Maoists, Assam Police Thursday said they were closely coordinating with security forces in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh to contain the Maoist menace in the state. In the first shoot-out with Maoists, police and security forces on Wednesday gunned down the four rebels in remote and underdeveloped Sadiya subdivision in upper Assam’s Tinsukia district on the border with Arunachal Pradesh.
A senior state police official said that operations are on to find out probable bases of the Maoists in the district.
‘There are strong possibilities that the Maoist cadres have set up some bases in the district or in the neigbouring state,’ said the official.
There have also been intelligence inputs that Maoist cadres have started a massive recruitment drive in some districts of upper Assam and trying to expand their base.
‘We are working in close coordination with the forces in Arunachal Pradesh. There are reports that the Maoists have set up some bases and training camps in the Manbhum reserve forests in Arunachal Pradesh,’ said the official.
‘However, we are waiting for some confirmation. The possibility of Maoists setting up training camps cannot be ruled out as the ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom) had done that earlier. The dense forests of the Manbhum reserve forest could be of multiple use to them,’ he said.
‘Odisha only state where Maoists spreading alarmingly’
The Centre has singled out Odisha for an ‘alarming’ rise in the activities of Maoists and accused the Naveen Patnaik government of failing to take any counter measure.
‘It is pertinent to mention that Odisha is the only state of India where activities of CPI(Maoists) are spreading to new areas at an alarming rate,’ the home ministry said in a message sent to DGP and principal secretary (Home) of Odisha government.
The home ministry told the state government that since the hostage crisis arising out of the abduction of two Italians and an MLA was resolved, it should rework on the strategy to deal with ‘rising Naxalism’ in the state. ‘Intelligence-based sustained anti-Naxal operations may be launched to prevent the CPI(Maoists) from capitalising on the circumstances arising out of the recent developments in the state,’ the message said.
The home ministry also cited several instances of Naxal violence and the state government’s ‘failure’ to check the menace.
‘In the wake of the recent abductions by Maoists, anti-Naxal operations have remained suspended in Maoist strongholds in southern districts and are yet to be resumed even after the release of the hostages,’ it said.
A senior state police official said that operations are on to find out probable bases of the Maoists in the district.
‘There are strong possibilities that the Maoist cadres have set up some bases in the district or in the neigbouring state,’ said the official.
There have also been intelligence inputs that Maoist cadres have started a massive recruitment drive in some districts of upper Assam and trying to expand their base.
‘We are working in close coordination with the forces in Arunachal Pradesh. There are reports that the Maoists have set up some bases and training camps in the Manbhum reserve forests in Arunachal Pradesh,’ said the official.
‘However, we are waiting for some confirmation. The possibility of Maoists setting up training camps cannot be ruled out as the ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom) had done that earlier. The dense forests of the Manbhum reserve forest could be of multiple use to them,’ he said.
‘Odisha only state where Maoists spreading alarmingly’
The Centre has singled out Odisha for an ‘alarming’ rise in the activities of Maoists and accused the Naveen Patnaik government of failing to take any counter measure.
‘It is pertinent to mention that Odisha is the only state of India where activities of CPI(Maoists) are spreading to new areas at an alarming rate,’ the home ministry said in a message sent to DGP and principal secretary (Home) of Odisha government.
The home ministry told the state government that since the hostage crisis arising out of the abduction of two Italians and an MLA was resolved, it should rework on the strategy to deal with ‘rising Naxalism’ in the state. ‘Intelligence-based sustained anti-Naxal operations may be launched to prevent the CPI(Maoists) from capitalising on the circumstances arising out of the recent developments in the state,’ the message said.
The home ministry also cited several instances of Naxal violence and the state government’s ‘failure’ to check the menace.
‘In the wake of the recent abductions by Maoists, anti-Naxal operations have remained suspended in Maoist strongholds in southern districts and are yet to be resumed even after the release of the hostages,’ it said.
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