Maoists target anti-Naxal force, kill 11 jawans in Orissa

Eleven Special Operation Group personnel were killed in Orissa on Sunday when Maoists blew up the van carrying them. The attack happened at Govindapalli in Malkangiri district of Orissa. Tragedy struck the first of the 3 vans carrying the jawans out to sanities the only highway connecting Koraput with Malkangiri so that BSF battalions could get safe passage. The powerful explosives were not planted under a culvert, as is the usual Naxal practice, but under a plain stretch of road on the Malkangiri-Koraput border. Sources said a brief exchange of fire also took place between the security personnel and the rebels near the blast site. “I strongly condemn the cowardly act of Maoists… it is savage and unlawful,” said Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister, Orissa.

Senior officials say the jawans violated the standard rule, to walk in files and not travel in vehicles on risky roads – something they have been taught time and again during their intensive training course. And the blast comes as a rude jolt to the anti-Maoist drive, Operation Greenhunt that was to be launched across Malkangiri and Koraput districts only next week. The attack comes as Home Minister P Chidambaram visited Lalgarh in West Bengal to take stock of the anti-Naxal operations there. Discussing the larger picture of Naxal attacks there, Chidambaram said that the situation was most worrying in Jharkhand and Orissa. He also said the Maoists were cowards.

(http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/maoists-target-anti-naxal-force-kill-11-jawans-in-orissa-19156.php  04/04/10, NDTV)

One Naxalite killed in encounter with police in Gadchiroli

A Naxalite was killed in an encounter between the ultras and security forces in a forest in Gadchiroli district, police said on Sunday. He was killed in a joint operation launched by police, CoBRA battalion of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and State Border Security Force of Chhattisgarh at the forest in Gyarbatti area, they said. The encounter started around 10:30 am when the Naxalites fired indiscriminately at the police party and the security forces retaliated, they said. In an ensuing encounter that lasted for about 30 minutes, Naxalites managed to flee from the spot, police said. Later during a search, police found the body and recovered one 12 bore rifle, two bags and other material. Police are suspecting at least four to five Naxals may have been killed or injured. The killed Naxal is yet to be identified, police added.

(http://www.zeenews.com/news616585.html  04/04/10, Zee News)

Suspected Maoists kill CPI(M) leader

Hours after Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram’s visit to Lalgarh, suspected Maoists on Sunday killed a CPI(M) student wing leader at nearby Binpur in West Midnapore district. Partha Biswas (26), Secretary of Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Belpahari Zonal Committee, was shot at by six suspected Maoists, who came on three motorcycles, at Malabati village at about 6 pm, police said. Biswas, who suffered bullet injuries in head and chest, died on way to Jhargram Hospital. A day earlier Maoists had held a meeting in the area demanding withdrawal of paramilitary forces, halting of Operation Green Hunt and condemning Mr. Chidambaram’s visit to Lalgarh, the police said. The ultras had asked all villagers to tow this line.

(http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article388337.ece  05/04/10, The Hindu)

Maoists are ‘cowards enacting dramas’: PC

The Maoist ultras, the current ‘enemy number one’ of the Indian State, would be routed in the coming two to three years, declared Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, speaking hours after the landmine blast that killed army personnel in Orissa on Sunday. Lashing out at the ultra reds for their acts against the State, he declared that the Government was firm on uprooting the insurgent movement, whom Chidambaram termed were the primary enemies of the State. Naxals were not friends of the poor as they claim but rather were ‘cowards enacting dramas’ who destroyed schools and rails and hijacked trains, he added, recalling the several attacks they launched in the recent past. “If they have courage, they should take part in democratic processes and face elections. Who is stopping them from winning elections?” asked the former Finance Minister who was speaking at a Union Budget explanatory meeting organised by a local unit of the party near Chennai late on Sunday night.

The Union Budget has set aside a mammoth amount of over Rs 40,000 crores to battle Naxals and other separatists in the North Eastern States, who posed a serious challenge to the nation’s internal security, said the Home Minister justifying the large expenditure. “The Union Government,” asserted Chidambaram, “is firm on uprooting them in two to three years.” Taking a swipe at former allies, the Left parties, Chidambaram said two years ago, the CPM members who spoke inside the Parliament opposed army or paramilitary involvement in the battle against Naxals. “But now, the West Bengal Chief Minister is advising me to deploy the military to crush terrorists. I am happy that wisdom has dawned at least now.” Pointing out that Naxal heartland West Midnapore district had as many as 21 Assembly constituencies, Chidambaram said it was impossible for a district collector or district superintendent of police to administer such a vast area.

(http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Maoists-are—cowards-enacting-dramas—-PC/600156  05/04/10, Indian Express)

‘Police acting under political agenda’

Leading thinkers and tribal leaders charged the police with acting under a political agenda by arresting tribal leaders at a meeting called by Adivasi Janasangharsh Morcha (AJM) here on Sunday. They also passed a resolution in support of the tribal leaders, who were arrested by the police for their alleged association with Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Janashakti. “Avinash Kulkarni cannot kill a bee then how can he be involved in any Naxal activities. He is a humble human being. I am surprised that he has been arrested under charges of spreading naxalism,” said Ganesh Devy of Adivasi Academy at Tejgadh. Among others present were Prakash Shah, Indu Jani, Babu Desai, Dilip Chandulal, Raman Chaudhry and Uttam Parmar. Shah said, “Police have become a tool of political agenda. Jayprakash Narayan had asked the police to read the police manual before taking actions against people of the country.

The tribals of Gujarat want their rights as the citizen of the Republic and these should be given to them.” The intellectuals at the meeting were of the opinion that the government was trying to harass the tribal activists, who are fighting for their rights and land. They said the tribals are demanding land under Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. Instead of giving them the land, the state government is targeting the tribal leaders, they said. Anand Chaudhry, Mandvi Nagarpalika Pramukh, said, “Makabhai Chaudhry was one of us and if he is a Naxalite then we too are. Makabhai was working for the tribals since years and has not done anything unlawful. But suddenly police found him to be a Naxalite.” Uttam Parmar said, “Police are not able to take action against liquor brewers and bootleggers. The arrested tribal leaders have not done anything wrong.” It was decided at the meeting to hold a dharna in Surat to oppose police action against the tribal leaders.

(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/surat/Police-acting-under-political-agenda/articleshow/5760799.cms  04/04/10, The Times of India)

Maoists blow up rest house in Latehar

CPI (Maoist) activists blew up a rest house at Matlong in this district, police said here today. A dozen armed Maoists came to the rest house late last night, packed dynamites before triggering the blast, the police said. There was no harm to human life. The ultras destroyed the house as the para-military forces had taken shelter there during the assembly elections in November last year, the police said quoting the villagers. The Maoists had blown up a school last month in Chatra on similar grounds.

(http://www.ptinews.com/news/595368_Maoists-blow-up-rest-house-in-Latehar  04/04/10, Press Trust of India)

Professor grilled over link to rebels

A Delhi University professor was today detained by police and questioned for over three hours for suspected links to Maoists, two months after another academic was named in a chargesheet against a guerrilla leader. Sunil Mandiwal, an assistant professor of Hindi at Dayal Singh College, was picked up around 4pm by a joint team of Delhi and Andhra Pradesh police from his residence where Maoist literature was found, sources said. Mandiwal was released after being questioned for over three hours. “They made me meet this person called Krishna Rao, who they said is a Maoist leader arrested from Andhra Pradesh. I told them that I did know someone by that name. They took some Maoist literature that I had at home with them and kept asking me if I had any Maoist links. It was after hours of denial that they finally let me go. They asked me to come to the police station at 10.30am to sign a list of the books that they had taken from my home,” said Mandiwal who has been a professor at DU for the past five years.

Mandiwal said the police had just one line of questioning – “Are you a Maoist sympathiser?” The professor said he was not involved with Naxalites but was a member of rights organisations like the Democratic Front of India. Last year, soon after the arrest of CPI (Maoist) politburo leader Khobad Ghandy, it had emerged that Delhi police were drawing up a list of Maoist sympathisers among academics and writers in the city. Sources said tonight that although Mandiwal had been given a “clean chit’’ by the police, the government was expected to turn up the heat on Naxalite sympathisers in the capital. The sources confirmed that the list of sympathisers included doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and professors at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.

The chargesheet submitted by the special cell of the Delhi police to a court here recently in the Ghandy case has named another DU professor, G.N. Saibaba, and members of rights organisations such as Darshan Pal of the People’s Democratic Front of India, Rona Wilson, the secretary of the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners, and Gautam Navlakha of the People’s Union for Democratic Rights. They have been accused of playing “a very important role to broaden the base of the (CPI-Maoist) outfit”.

(http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100405/jsp/nation/story_12303402.jsp  04/04/10, The Telegraph)

Dr Beg calls for talks with separatists

The ruling National Conference on Sunday urged New Delhi to take the dialogue process with separatists to its logical end. Stating this, Member Parliament from South Kashmir Dr Mehboob Beg said, “Despite the risk and threats, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq participated in the quiet dialogue. But the quiet dialogue has died a quiet death.” He urged the mainstream political parties to build consensus over the dialogue process. They, he said, should pressurize the Government of India to take the dialogue process with separatists to its logical end. He said both the NC and Peoples Democratic Party could raise the water issue. “This concerns all of us. So why not to raise the voice collectively,” he added. He said he had raised the issue during the budget session of the Parliament. “I have sought compensation for our waters. I stated if you can’t scrap Indus Water Treaty, then compensate us,” he added.

Dr Beg, who represents south Kashmir in Parliament, said that all districts in his constituency were feeling neglected. “Jammu and Srinagar cities are being given top priorities while as in other districts there is a feeling of neglect and in Islamabad district sense of neglect is deep,” Dr Beg reporters. He, however, refused to blame the National Conference led coalition government for the neglect. “South Kashmir has been neglected by the successive regimes over the years. Mufti Muhammad Sayeed only laid foundation stones but the works were never executed and the situation has not changed so far,” he said. “I visited some of the districts recently. People complained about nothing being done to uplift them economically,” Dr Beg said. He demanded that Islamabad’s district hospital should be upgraded to the level of Medical Institute.

(http://www.greaterkashmir.com/today/full_story.asp?Date=5_4_2010&ItemID=55&cat=1  04/04/10, Greater Kashmir)

Two terrorists killed in Jammu Kashmir

Security forces on Sunday, Apr 4, foiled an infiltration bid and gunned down two terrorists along the Line of Control in Kupwara district of Jammu Kashmir. According to a defence spokesman, troops guarding the border noticed some movement in Keran sector near the LoC. The infiltrators opened fire at the security personnel and in the ensuing gunbattle two ultras were killed, the spokesman said.

(http://news.oneindia.in/2010/04/04/two-terrorists-killed-in-jammu-kashmir.html  04/04/10, One India News)

Ultras shoot at Cong leader at home, one killed

Armed militants barged into the house of a senior Congress leader in Pulwama district of south Kashmir this evening and opened fire at him but he escaped unhurt as his personal security officer shot back killing one of the ultras and leaving another injured. A group of about four heavily armed militants intruded into the house of district Congress President Pulwama Abdul Gani Dar at Rohama, 40 kms from here around 8.10 PM, police said. The militants shot at Dar but his personal security officer returned the fire killing one militant on the spot while another was injured, they said. Police reinforcements and security forces have reached the spot and launched combing operations to nab the other militants.

(http://www.ptinews.com/news/595526_Ultras-shoot-at-Cong-leader-at-home–one-killed  04/04/10, Press trust of India)