Begin typing your search above and press return to search.

Centre confirms Maoists� bid for bases in NE

By Spl Correspondent

NEW DELHI, July 30 � Claiming that it is monitoring the situation closely, the Centre has confirmed reports of the Maoists trying to make inroads into the North Eastern Region by forging links with various militant outfits including the outlawed ULFA.

The banned CPI (Maoist) is trying to establish organisational bases in the North-east with a view to forging relations with other insurgent groups to meet its military requirements.

In this regard, the CPI (Maoist) has developed close fraternal ties with North-east insurgent groups like the Revolutionary Peoples� Front (RPF), Peoples� Liberation Army (PLA) of Manipur, NSCN(I-M) of Nagaland and ULFA of Assam. The outfit also forged a tactical understanding with the RPF, PLA and NSCN (I-M) for procuring arms and ammunition and imparting military and communication training to its cadres, said Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju in a Rajya Sabha reply.

The Government of India has alerted the state governments concerned of the North-east in this regard. The Government is also monitoring the situation closely. The activities of the CPI (Maoist) have declined significantly in the North-east in recent times, consequent to the arrest of important cadres from the area.

The Central Government has a four-pronged strategy to tackle Left Wing Extremism (LWE) � security related measures; development related measures; ensuring rights and entitlements of local communities and public perception management, wherein it supplements the efforts of the state governments over a wide range of schemes and measures.

The LWE groups, particularly the CPI (Maoist) have large numbers of cadres and weapons, including sophisticated ones. As per available reports, the estimated armed cadre strength of the LWE groups is around 8500. However, their support base is in larger numbers. The LWE groups, particularly the CPI (Maoist) are using weapons and equipment like LMG, AK-47, SLRs, .303 rifles, GF rifles, HE grenades and VHF and HF sets for attacks on security forces. Notwithstanding some setbacks in recent times, the CPI (Maoist) retains its core armed strength and the capacity to launch spectacular attacks.

Next Story