M A I N   N E W S

Chhattisgarh on alert

Raipur, October 26
Security in and around key installations in Chhattisgarh’s capital has been intensified, following intelligence reports that Maoists with access to rocket launchers are keen to strike the urban areas to halt operations against them in the sprawling Bastar region.

With over 40,000 police and paramilitary troopers combing guerrilla hideouts in the interiors of the 40,000 sq km Bastar region, the banned CPI- Maoist is desperate to take the battle to towns and cities, particularly Raipur, officials said citing intelligence reports.

“We have gathered enough intelligence inputs in the recent days that say Maoists are keen to strike in the urban areas of the state at its key government installations to somehow halt the ongoing operation against them in their stronghold Bastar,” an official said. — IANS

Naxal presence in Assam?
Bijay Sankar Bora
Tribune News Service

Guwahati, October 26
A recent recovery of a huge cache of arms and ammunition from an Adivasi-dominated area in Kokrajhat district bordering West Bengal has given rise to worry among security agencies that Maoists might have infiltrated the state much deeper than feared.

A joint team of Army and the police acting on a tip-off launched a search operation at Shoshanghutu area near Mornai Tea Estate under Gossaingaon police station in Kokrajhar district and arrested three suspected militants of Santali Tiger Force, a newly formed Adivasi militant group in the state.

The seizure included one AK-47 assault rifle, two .9 mm pistol made in Bulgaria, one 7.65 US-made pistol, one carbine, a 15 kg improvised explosive device (IED), two kg gun powder, 120 live ammunition, six magazines and some gelatin sticks.

A security source said the arms haul raised the alarm over presence of Maoists in the state given that they had been trying to spread tentacles in the state through Adivasi militant groups like the STF, All Adivasi National Liberation Army (AANLA), Adivasi Cobra militants. In fact, the founder leader of AANLA, Nirmal Tirkey was arrested by police from Maoist infested Jharkhand earlier this year.

A security source said the AANLA is now left with about 80 odd armed cadres. The AANLA was floated in 2003 and mainly active in Karbi Anglong and Golaghat districts f Assam. The proscribed Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA) and the Naga rebel group, the NSCN-IM had helped the AANLA in emerging as the militant face of Adivasi tribes in Assam fighting for Scheduled Tribe status.

The Maoist have already infiltrated a part of southern Bhutan that has boundary with Kokrajhar district of Assam and set up some sort of influence among Nepali settlers in that part of Himalayan kingdom much to the worry of the authorities there.

The large population of Adivasi population in Assam including tea workers would be an advantage for Maoists to set up a base in the state. Maoists may try to cash in on the frustration among tea workers over non-fulfillment of their long-standing demand for Scheduled Tribe status in the state.

Security sources do not rule out existence of an axis between the Maoists and the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) given that the ULFA used to have operational coordination with Adivasi militant group AANLA in tea garden areas.