New Delhi: The Centre today offered talks with Maoists and insurgents in the north east with a condition that they should suspend violence.
"Violence does not pay and violence will not pay. The State will not bend before anyone who uses violence as an instrument of policy to achieve political demands... That is why we tell them suspend violence and come for talks and when you come for talks, you will be treated with dignity and honour. And we can resolve your political demands through talks," Home Minister P Chidambaram told a press conference on a day he completed three years in the ministry.
He was replying to questions on the bomb blast in Manipur today and about talks with different insurgents groups in the north east.
"Yes, it applies to maoists also. I have made this statement several times before and I make it again today as I complete three years. Even maoists should suspend violence. We are not asking for more at this stage. Just say there will be no violence and my offer stands," Mr Chidambaram said.
"After consulting Chief Ministers of the States concerned, within 72 hours we will get back to them to fix the dates and venue for starting talks. But they must suspend violence," he said.
Rejecting allegations of fake encounter, Chidambaram said there were "no doubts" that maoist leader Kishenji was killed in a gun battle with security forces in West Bengal last week.
"Reports indicates that he was killed in a gun battle that started on November 22 and concluded on November 23. We have no doubts about the encounter. He was killed in an encounter," he said.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Thursday, November 24, 2011
CRPF confirms Kishenji, ellusive Maoist leader, killed in encounter
ishenji, the elusive Maoist leader, has been killed on Thursday evening in a 30-minute gun battle between the rebels and joint forces inside the dense forest of Burishol in West Midnapore, CRPF confirmed. The security forces said that the 207 Cobra battllion killed the Maoist
leader.
“Acting on specific tip-off that few top Maoist leaders, including Kishenji, are hiding inside the dense forest of Burishol the joint force is raiding the forest since Wednesday. Within 30 minutes after we initiated a gun battle on Thursday jawans noticed a body that resembles Kishenji,” said P K Tripathi the superintendent of police of West Midnapore told a television channel.
This is for the second time that the dreaded Maoist leader came in direct confrontation with the joint force.
On March 26, 2010 Kishenji was rumoured to have suffered injuries in a 12-hour gun battle in the Hatishol forest, around 8 kms east of Lalgarh.
The 52-year-old Kishenji, alias Kotteswar Rao, was CPI(Maoist) Politburo and Central Military Commission member. He was charge of the eastern regional bureau for the Maoists.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Maoists withdraw ceasefire in WB
West Bengal government's attempt to open peace talks with the Maoists came to a virtual end after the ultras withdrew their ceasefire offer made a month ago for lack of communication from the government.
"As there was no official communication to our letter and demands either from you or the government, so the tenure of the agreement ends," Maoist state secretary Akash in a letter to one of the government-appointed interlocutors said.
The letter, written on October 31, came just a month after an agreement was signed between the Maoists and interolocutors by which they agreed to a ceasefire provided the government suspend the joint forces' operation for a month.
Alleging the Mamata Banerjee government had failed to live up to expectations, the letter said "we want peace and we have tried our level best to cooperate with the interolocutors and the government."
"We declared ceasefire unilaterally and the government not only continued with their operation but at the same time decided to recruit 5,000 policemen and informers from Jangalmahal. The state government is trying to create another Salwa Judum (vigilante groups of civilians) in West Bengal," it said.
The letter alleged the joint forces and Trinamool Congress with its newly formed 'Bhairab Bahini' was terrorising the people of the village and said they were still ready for talks but the government would have to give a written recognition to the 'agreement'.
"We also seek an explanation from the government about its stance and an answer to all our letters. We have nothing new to say", Akash said in the letter.
"As there was no official communication to our letter and demands either from you or the government, so the tenure of the agreement ends," Maoist state secretary Akash in a letter to one of the government-appointed interlocutors said.
The letter, written on October 31, came just a month after an agreement was signed between the Maoists and interolocutors by which they agreed to a ceasefire provided the government suspend the joint forces' operation for a month.
Alleging the Mamata Banerjee government had failed to live up to expectations, the letter said "we want peace and we have tried our level best to cooperate with the interolocutors and the government."
"We declared ceasefire unilaterally and the government not only continued with their operation but at the same time decided to recruit 5,000 policemen and informers from Jangalmahal. The state government is trying to create another Salwa Judum (vigilante groups of civilians) in West Bengal," it said.
The letter alleged the joint forces and Trinamool Congress with its newly formed 'Bhairab Bahini' was terrorising the people of the village and said they were still ready for talks but the government would have to give a written recognition to the 'agreement'.
"We also seek an explanation from the government about its stance and an answer to all our letters. We have nothing new to say", Akash said in the letter.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
A new but quiet strategy to fight Maoists
The center-state combined force has launched the anti-Maoist operation in a full scale to flush out the Maoists from Jangalmahal but this time with an altogether new strategy. Instead of creating too much of hullabaloo, the security personnel are silently carrying out their job mainly by
picking up key Maoist leaders one after another, recovering arms and ammunition and alienating the extremists from the common villagers. Mamata Banerjee’s government has made it clear to the force that the common and innocent people of Jangalmahal must not be harassed during the operation and the think tank of the joint force has designed the blueprint following this strict government instruction.
In order to attain the goal, Cordon and Area Searching Operation (CASO), which was an indispensable part of the anti-Maoist operation earlier, has been opted out this time. At the time of CASO, an entire village or two-three villages had be cordoned of and all villagers had to come out from their residences with their identity proofs. If security personnel suspected some of the villagers, they were detained and brought to the nearest police station or police camp.
Earlier, especially during the Left Front regime, in several occasions, the joint force was accused for doing highhandedness and harassing and assaulting innocent people at the time of carrying out CASO.
“There is always a risk of police excess in CASO. We cannot avoid it. It is then better to avoid the CASO to evade the risk of harassing innocents,” said a senior official of the state police.
“We have been asked to take extra precautions during the operation so that the innocents are not harassed by any means. Therefore, we are carrying out operations on the basis of specific and definite information. We are basically giving priority on pinpointed intelligence inputs,” Praveen Tripathi, superintendent of police in West Midnapore told Hindustan Times.
The arrest of Suman Maity alias Saota, a Maoist area commander, and the recovery of five sophisticated firearms looted from Silda EFR camp from Salboni area on Thursday are the classic examples of the success in this new style of operation.
Sources told the police that Saota was hiding at Shyamapada Mahato’s house in Pairachuli village. When the sleuths crosschecked the information and found it true, the joint force carried out the operation and started cordoning the area.
“But instead of cordoning the entire Pairachuli village, we had just barricaded Mahato’s house and adjacent three houses. These were all to avoid the risk of harassing innocents,” Tripathi told HT.
The arrest of Saota will scale down the influence of the Maoists in a vast area that falls under Salboni and Lalgarh police stations. The security force are putting stress on arresting this type of key and influential leaders so that the extremists and their supporters will find no other option but to leave this path due to lack of leadership.
“At present, to our assessment, the common people of Jangalmahal by and large are against the Maoists. Basically, they do not want to see again the days of bandh, road blockade, strike, violence, abductions and murders. We should take this advantage. But harassment of innocents during the operation can make them hostile to the joint force and the government. Therefore we have to carry out the operation in such a way so that the innocents must not be harassed at any cost. For this, definite intelligence inputs are necessary. And specific intelligence inputs have started coming. Otherwise we could not have got key men like Saota and Jayanta Mahato in recent times,” said an official of the state home department.
Similarly, the force is asked to open the fire if only the Maoists first attack them and if the Maoists try to flee. Again, the firing should be aimed at the lower portion of the target.
picking up key Maoist leaders one after another, recovering arms and ammunition and alienating the extremists from the common villagers. Mamata Banerjee’s government has made it clear to the force that the common and innocent people of Jangalmahal must not be harassed during the operation and the think tank of the joint force has designed the blueprint following this strict government instruction.
In order to attain the goal, Cordon and Area Searching Operation (CASO), which was an indispensable part of the anti-Maoist operation earlier, has been opted out this time. At the time of CASO, an entire village or two-three villages had be cordoned of and all villagers had to come out from their residences with their identity proofs. If security personnel suspected some of the villagers, they were detained and brought to the nearest police station or police camp.
Earlier, especially during the Left Front regime, in several occasions, the joint force was accused for doing highhandedness and harassing and assaulting innocent people at the time of carrying out CASO.
“There is always a risk of police excess in CASO. We cannot avoid it. It is then better to avoid the CASO to evade the risk of harassing innocents,” said a senior official of the state police.
“We have been asked to take extra precautions during the operation so that the innocents are not harassed by any means. Therefore, we are carrying out operations on the basis of specific and definite information. We are basically giving priority on pinpointed intelligence inputs,” Praveen Tripathi, superintendent of police in West Midnapore told Hindustan Times.
The arrest of Suman Maity alias Saota, a Maoist area commander, and the recovery of five sophisticated firearms looted from Silda EFR camp from Salboni area on Thursday are the classic examples of the success in this new style of operation.
Sources told the police that Saota was hiding at Shyamapada Mahato’s house in Pairachuli village. When the sleuths crosschecked the information and found it true, the joint force carried out the operation and started cordoning the area.
“But instead of cordoning the entire Pairachuli village, we had just barricaded Mahato’s house and adjacent three houses. These were all to avoid the risk of harassing innocents,” Tripathi told HT.
The arrest of Saota will scale down the influence of the Maoists in a vast area that falls under Salboni and Lalgarh police stations. The security force are putting stress on arresting this type of key and influential leaders so that the extremists and their supporters will find no other option but to leave this path due to lack of leadership.
“At present, to our assessment, the common people of Jangalmahal by and large are against the Maoists. Basically, they do not want to see again the days of bandh, road blockade, strike, violence, abductions and murders. We should take this advantage. But harassment of innocents during the operation can make them hostile to the joint force and the government. Therefore we have to carry out the operation in such a way so that the innocents must not be harassed at any cost. For this, definite intelligence inputs are necessary. And specific intelligence inputs have started coming. Otherwise we could not have got key men like Saota and Jayanta Mahato in recent times,” said an official of the state home department.
Similarly, the force is asked to open the fire if only the Maoists first attack them and if the Maoists try to flee. Again, the firing should be aimed at the lower portion of the target.
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