On an average, Naxals kill at least three persons in as many as six attacks every day. In the first six months of 2010, Maoists carried out a total of 1,103 attacks, in which 534 people were killed. This was disclosed by Home Minister P Chidambaram while speaking at a meeting of chief ministers to discuss the situation arising out of Maoist violence in the country. According to the data presented by the home minister, the extremists have killed 325 civilians.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Wednesday said the brutal Maoist attack in Dantewada, in which 76 security personnel were killed, is a reminder that no state government can single-handedly tackle Naxal violence and called for a coordinated action by the Centre and the states.
After a sustained operation along the Jharkhand-West Bengal border, the anti-Naxal forces will soon launch an offensive along the crucial borderline of Orissa and Chhattisgarh which is considered a Maoist stronghold.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday that the government had drawn up an integrated plan to tackle the Naxal problem in consultation with the states and was initiating firm action against the Maoists.
"Ghandy was preaching Naxalism, Marxism and Leninism. He was central committee member of Politbureau of CPI-ML, besides looking after Committee of Mass Organisation and international department of Central Publishing Bureau and being in charge of its South Western Regional Bureau," the Delhi Police told Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja.
The surrender of top Naxal leader Gudsa Usendi, mastermind of many lethal strikes including the attack on a Congress convoy in Chhattisgarh last year, is certainly a good news for the NIA, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
Former Border Security Force director general E N Rammohan, appointed to inquire into the circumstances leading to the massacre of 76 security personnel by Naxals in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, has begun his probe.
All India Congress Committee General Secretary Digvijay Singh, who appears to have stirred a hornet's nest with his remarks on Naxalism, will have to do some explaining to the party leadership on his newspaper article critical of Home Minister P Chidambaram when he returns from the US next week.
In a strongly-worded article in a leading newspaper, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Wednesday questioned Home Minister P Chidambaram's strategy of treating the Naxal issue as a law and order problem, and called for a rethink of the counter-Maoist strategy. At the same time, Singh, a former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, said, "The buck stops with the chief minister for law and order, and not with the home minister."
Refusing to bracket Naxals with terrorists, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday ruled out the use of armed forces against them and said that the government is willing to hold talks with them if they abjured violence.
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel resolved issues of merger of other princely states, but 'one person' could not resolve the Kashmir issue, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday, in a veiled attack on India's first PM Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
He said Reddy had taken the farmhouse on rent claiming he was a farmer in Andhra Pradesh.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has pinned its hopes on the old guard to ensure victory in next month's assembly elections in Chhattisgarh as it gave tickets to 11 sitting MLAs and renominated 13 leaders who lost in the 2018 polls.
A Naxal couple which had decamped with weapons from a police station in Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh was gunned down in a police encounter in the wee hours on Wednesday, a senior police officer said.
In the second brazen attack in as many days, Naxals on Friday blew up an anti-landmine vehicle, killing 10 security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district. The anti-landmine vehicle of the security force was approaching a bridge near Gatan village when the Naxals triggered a powerful blast and opened indiscriminate fire on them, said the police.Seven Special Police Officers and three police jawans were killed when their vehicle was tossed in the air by the blast.
''And topping it all, parties were playing politics with the issue, least concerned about solving the problem. In fact, they were using them to further their own ends," Marwah claimed.
Communication, dated February 17 to all state governments, said the CPI (Maoist) planned to capture attention once again
Vanvasi Chetna Asram founder Himanshu Kumar while reacting to the letter dashed by Chhattisgarh Governor ESL Naramsimhan to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday asking Union Home Minister P Chidambaram not to visit Naxal-hit areas in Raipur and Dantewada on January7, told rediff.com, "It means that the state government has something to hide."
Police claimed to have killed "five or six" naxalites, including a deputy commander, in an encounter in Gadchiroli district and recovered from their possession arms, ammunition and naxal literature.
The ultras for the first time this season put up pamphlets, banners and flags on Thursday, appealing to people to observe Maoist week -- from July 28 to August 3.
The increase in the frequency of attacks by naxalites on the police and civilians in Vidarbha has law enforcement agencies worried.
As the Centre prepares to launch a massive operation against the Maoists, police in the Naxal-hit Andhra Pradesh have a reason to rejoice this year.
The Maoists have already blown up as many as 16 telecom towers in different places of these districts, thereby disrupting the mobile telephone services.
Lalgarh, once a nerve centre of Naxal insurgency in West Bengal, now represents a different place.
Identifying terrorism, naxalism and communalism as challenges to the nation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said the "ferocity" of these "disturbing and disruptive" elements has to be understood and ways should be devised to defeat these.
Assessment by security forces suggests the Naxals had reached Sukma in small batches from different states to carry out the attack, reports Gyan Varma
Condemning the Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh, BJP today expressed its "shock" and concern over frequent targeting of political activist by Naxals and called for an aggressive, unified and non-partisan strategy to fight the menace.
With the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) planning to create disturbances to mark its decade of formation this September, police is bracing up to counter any such move and make people aware about the "futility" of the rebel movements.
Karnataka government on Saturday announced a week-long ceasefire from Monday in anti-Naxal operations to facilitate surrender of Maoists, Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar said.
The government on Friday ruled out holding any talks with Naxalites but said a balanced approach will be adopted in close coordination with states to tackle the violence perpetrated by Maoists.
The task force will make recommendations on policies, plans and programmes for the central and state governments.
Toral Varia and photographer Reuben Verghese report on an emerging trend in the red bastions of Odisha's Keonjhar district: The rebels return home.
39-year-old Majhi, a prominent tribal leader, who represented Umerkote assembly constituency, had gone to Gona village to distribute land pattas when the incident took place, Director General of Police Manmohan Praharaj said.
Senior Congress leader Mahendra Karma's personal security officer, who was critically injured in the deadly Naxal attack in Bastar, succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Raipur on Saturday, taking the death toll in the tragedy to 28.
A team of National Investigation Agency, probing the Naxal attack on Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh, on Tuesday visited the site where the ultras attacked the convoy returning from Parivartan rally.
"The air wing deployed for anti-naxal operations will ensure that at least one helicopter is essentially available for casualty evacuation duties and responding to SOS from injured troops will be their topmost priority," BSF Special Director General Arvind Ranjan said.
The decision to finance these districts for rapid improvement in schooling, health care and drinking water comes nine months after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee listed the drive in his Union Budget to ensure the poor and the tribals do not head to the Naxals for help.
Three policemen, including two personnel of Cobra battalion of Central Reserve Police Force were killed on Saturday in a naxal attack in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra.
The PMG was announced by the Union home ministry on the occasion of the 74th Republic Day, being celebrated on January 26 (Thursday).
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