Naxals on Tuesday night extended by 24 hours the deadline set for the release of four policemen held captive by them even as the Chhattisgarh government said there were positive talks with the Maoists on the safe return of the hostages.
In a stern warning to Naxals, Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Sunday that security forces will not hesitate from launching a "battle on ground" to help "re-establish" civil administration's control in the areas occupied by the ultra Left groups.
At least 13 security personnel were killed on Friday when Naxals triggered a blast and then opened fire on a patrol party near Tongada village, bordering Andhra Pradesh, in the Maoist-affected district of Bijapur in Chhattisgarh. The patrol party, comprising 21 police personnel, was returning from Terla village when the rebels unleashed the attack.
The recent Central Reserve Police Force encounter in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district is part of the latest plan of the force to conduct "big sweep" operations in uncharted Naxal hotbeds of the country in order to liberate them from the clutches of 'red' ultras.
The Maoists have constituted 'Baal Action Teams' to deploy school children in different capacities in their attempt to regroup the child cadres and boost their perceived military strength.
In an ominous development, Pakistan's ISI is making attempts to establish contacts with Naxals with the help of underworld don Chota Shakeel for carrying out subversive activities in the country and six people have been arrested so far in this connection.
Major changes in the Central Reserve Police Force's operational strategies are underway following the recent setback against Naxals, especially in Dantewada where it lost over 75 personnel. The post of CRPF Inspector General of Police (Operations) is likely to be created in every state where the force is deployed for anti-Naxal operations, official sources said.
Six policemen were on Tuesday injured when Naxals blew up an anti-landmine vehicle and opened indiscriminate fire on them in Perimili area of Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram expressed confidence on Sunday that that the situation in Naxal-hit West Midnapore district in West Bengal would be brought under control in three to four days. Described Naxals as 'cowards', he said they were retreating into the thick forests even as security forces wrested control of areas dominated by them.
A delegation of Congress leaders met EC officials and raised several issues, including the use of pictures and large cut-outs of the prime minister in government buildings and colleges and demanded that those be removed to maintain a level-playing field in the upcoming parliamentary election.
Stressing that Naxals shunning the path of violence is just a matter of time, a top Central Reserve Police Force official on Tuesday appealed to the people from insurgency-hit areas to stand up against militancy. K P Singh, who recently took charge as the deputy inspector general of police of CRPF in the Naxal-infested district of Gadchiroli in Maharashtra, told PTI that his optimism stems from effective policing techniques being adopted by agencies.
As the government continues to weigh options of fighting Naxalism more effectively, the army has offered to send Colonel-rank officers to the Union home ministry on deputation for advise in anti-Maoist operations.
For the first time, anti-Naxal forces are to be deployed in Assam and Uttar Pradesh. According to senior Union home ministry officials, 65 underground members of the CPI (Maoist) were arrested in UP between 2005 and August 15 this year.
Date, a 1990 Indian Police Service officer of the Maharashtra cadre who once sold newspapers in Pune to financially support his family, was honoured with the President's Police medal for gallantry for his role in what has come to be known as the 26/11 attack.
With the defence ministry averse to sparing the army to fight Naxals, the Union home ministry will "fend for themselves" and take a fresh look at its strategy to fight Left-wing extremism including reorienting the available paramilitary forces. This was seen as a fall out of Thursday evening's Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which failed to arrive at a consensus over deployment of Army for fighting Naxals.
Naxals fired at a Central Reserve Police Force camp at Hazaribagh in Jharkhand on Wednesday, injuring a jawan.
Hours before the deadline set by Naxals for release of their jailed members in exchange of an abducted Orissa Member of Legislative Assembly, a retired army officer on Wednesday approached the Supreme Court to restrain the state government from meeting Maoists' demands. Major General (retired) Gangurdep Bakshi pleaded with the apex court that the state government should be restrained from releasing the Naxals as they had been captured by security forces.
The Naxals have stepped up the tempo and security agencies following the Dantewada attack had warned that there is more to come. Whatever intelligence that has been gathered on red terror would suggest that the forces are constantly increasing their capabilities, which include more men and sophisticated machinery.
'I was laughing and crying at the same time. Right now, just extremely happy that she will be out and amongst us soon.'
"Our team on the ground in Dantewada informed the Director General A S Gill that more than 30 Naxals were killed in the encounter that took place on Friday. Though only three bodies were recovered, the rest were dragged back into the forests by the Naxals," CRPF spokesperson Ajay Chaturvedi said in New Delhi.
Home Minister P Chidambaram talks about the Naxal menace, Kasab's death sentence, the role of Hindu right-wing organisations in orchestrating blasts and his impending visit to Pakistan.
A special squad of the anti-Naxal force recently undertook an operation in the jungles of Narayanpur district during which a UAV was not only able to pick up "real-time imagery" of movement of Naxal cadres but also relayed the conversation among them.
They said the IED blast took place in the Chintalnar forest area of the district around 9 pm on Saturday and the injured personnel were evacuated by a Mi-17 V5 helicopter of the Indian Air Force around midnight.
The surrendered Naxal said such arguments and counter-arguments led to internal dispute. "I felt suffocated and a sense of remorse started setting in."
A Naxal faction on Thursday condemned the politics of abduction by Maoists to realise their demands, saying it is a "wrong" policy.
The anti-Naxal operations in Odisha have come to a halt following abduction of two Italian tourists by the Maoists who demanded suspension of offensive against the extremists and release of some of their colleagues besides placing other demands.
Naxalism is a wake-up call for the country, former Union home secretary G K Pillai said in New Delhi, while blaming poor governance for the rise in the problem.
As Maoist menace continued to be unabated, the government is all set to launch the much-awaited full-fledged anti-Naxal operations at three different areas, considered tri-junctions of the worst Naxal-affected states.
The interim budget 2024-25 on Thursday allocated Rs 202868.70 crore to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) with the highest share of funds going to the paramilitary forces like Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF) and Central Industrial Secular Force (CISF), showing priority on internal security and border guarding.
Police said that a group of Naxals opened fire on the Howrah-bound Kathgodam Express as it reached Sonepur railway satation.
The inter-state anti-Naxal operation, along the Jharkhand-West Bengal border, has led to the unearthing of administrative and military units of the Naxals.The operation, which started on Tuesday evening, is a result of several months of planning, and is being lead by over 4,000 central forces including the Special Action Force of the Central Reserve Police Force, besides local police teams of the two states.
The National Investigation Agency, which will probe the shocking Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh, is seeking information about an operative named Gaganna alias Ramesh. The preliminary investigation has revealed that Gaganna was the leader of the operation.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley on Tuesday slammed the Centre's failure to contain Maoist violence, saying "It seems the UPA is in power but not in control."The Bharatiya Janata Party leader's comments came in the wake of another Maoist attack in Dantewada on Monday that claimed 50 lives. Using a remote-controlled device, the Left-wing extremists had blown up a bus full of civilians and special police officers in the Naxal-hit district in Chattisgarh.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram urged the captains of Indian Confederation of Industries to invest in naxal-affected areas too for the upliftment of the country.
The incident took place when Chika Mazi was taking a walk outside his house located near a crowded market when some armed ultras fired at him, killing Mazi on the spot, Additional Superintendent of Police BPS Rajbhanu told PTI.
As Maoists continued to strike at will, the Centre is planning to deploy approximately 15,000 additional paramilitary personnel by April in the Naxal-affected states, to deal with the extremists.These men will be in addition to the 60,000 central security personnel currently deployed to assist the state governments to counter the Naxals.The men, who are now being acquired from forces like CRPF, BSF and ITBP.
We strongly condemn the massacre of our patriotic security personnel by the Naxalites. Chhattisgarh is a state that has geared up to fight the menace of Naxalism more than any other state and yet this is a great setback to us to demoralise our operations. I stand here not to apportion the blame but to increase the resolve in the fight against Naxalism.
On February 16 last year, while serving as the collector of Malkangiri district of Odisha, R Vineel Krishna was abducted by Naxals. He was released nine days later. The IAS officer recounts his experience
Home Minister Shivraj Patil a strong mechanism to counter the serious Naxal problem has been put in place.
