After a lull for about five months, fighting between the Maoists and government forces resumed in the worst-hit districts of West Bengal. Clashes occured at several places but no casualty figure was released from either side. But three persons were admittedly killed in adjacent state of Orissa and a couple of paramilitary troops were killed in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. A policeman in remote area came under a flash attack on the morning of September 16.
Operation of joint forces in West Bengal was suspended by the state government against the will of New Delhi. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee came to power riding on her promises to withdraw joint forces and release of political prisoners. But now at the behest of the centre she has backed out of her pledges. Instead, she has cleared resumption of anti-Maoist operation by the joint police and paramilitary forces. She has also ventured to recruit 10,000 youths as special police (Salwa Judum) from the Maoist-hit districts. A hefty package of incentives totaling more than Rs 2.5 lakh in cash, in addition to Rs 2,000 monthly allowance and job opportunity to each Maoist cadre who will surrender with arms. But to the dismay of the Chief Minister, none applied for special police job nor any Maoist cadre surrendered. The previous government of CPI (M) had claimed 8 Maoists surrendered with arms and they were paraded before the media. Later, it was turned out that the surrender was state managed. None of the Maoists had surrendered.
A ruling Trinamul Congress leader was killed by the Maoists on Monday causing anger of Mamata Banerjee. Maoist blamed her raising a private armed force by the ruling Trinamul - Bhairab Bahini – parallel to Harmad Bahini by former ruling CPI(M), and let it loose against them. Maoist leaders held meetings in villages and told the people that the government was trying to lure the poor away from their movement to secure their rights. Revolutionary Writers Association leader Varbara Rao accused Banerjee of trying to raise Salwa Judum, a civil militia force, by recruiting youths as special police despite the Supreme Court had ordered the ban of Sulwa Judum in Chhattisgarh. He called for halt of Operation Green Hunt of the joint forces, the move for raising Salwa Judum and creating a situation conducive for peace talks.
A grim picture in the absence of government rule in the Maoist-hit areas of Central India was depicted. A meeting of district collectors of about 70 districts of nine states was convened last week to assess the situation. The meeting was addressed by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P. Chiddambaram. One of the district collectors informed that there was no gram panchayet in 1328 villages in his district. There is no bank branch or post office in the district. Some of the banks and post offices function in adjacent district that too located in police camps and operate under tight security. Villagers allocated money under various benevolent schemes are to walk more than 10km to collect the cash. Each of those districts was allotted Rs 25 core last year and Rs. 30 crore this year for development of the area and assist the poor people. Major part of the allocation remained unspent due to such difficulties.
They viewed that the Maoist problem is unlikely to be resolved by force and suggested to seek resolution of chronic problem through peace talks. Appreciating their views, Chidambaram, known as a hawkish home minister said the Maoists are driven by brutual ideology of overthrowing parliamentary democracy and establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat in India. There cannot be peace talks with the Maoists who are assisted by external forces, he said pointing his finger to Beijing and Yangoon.
Meanwhile, the relation of India and China and Myanmar is getting sour. Myanmar has paid no heed to India’s repeated requests to flush out the insurgent groups of northeast states of Assam, Nagaland, Manipur and Tripura who are fighting for independence from safe sanctuaries along the border. Reports also said the insurgent groups and Maoists in central India are getting arms supply from Bejing.
Indian official news agency PTI reported on September 14 that Chinese troops have entered the Indian territory and destroyed some old Army bunkers and tents in Chumar division of Nyoma sector, about 300 kilometres from Leh. While some reports suggested that the Chinese troops in helicopters entered one-and-a-half kilometres into Indian airspace without resistance, other reports said that the helicopters landed in Chinese territory and then the troops marched into the area to dismantle the bunkers, a move aimed at displaying that the area belonged to them. Indian authority refrained from reacting to the report. Earlier in January, Indian media reported that the Chinese troops entered Indian territory along the Line of Actual Control in South-eastern Ladakh region and threatened a contractor and his team to halt work on constructing a passenger shed. There was no reaction from New Delhi demonstrating weakness to the Chinese incursions on the border.
This week China has strongly warned India against undertaking oil and gas exploration with Vietnam in South China Sea. It is likely New Delhi will invite trouble as its Foreign Secretary S M Krishnan while visiting Vietnam pledged to go ahead with the accord for oil gas exploration in two disputed blocks. Beijing has categorically warned India to refrain from poking her nose in its coast. That, it said, would be taken as an infringement on its sovereignty. |