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Maoists establishing bases in NE: Centre

By Spl Correspondent

NEW DELHI, March 13 � The Centre has formally confirmed that North Eastern States, including Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, have become theatre of CPI (Maoists) activities. Organisational bases are being established to forge links with the insurgent groups of the region.

The CPI (Maoists) of the main Left Wing Extremists (LWE) Group have been trying to expand their activities in various parts of the country and to establish bases in the North-East with a view to forge relations with other insurgent groups to meet its military requirements, Minister of State for Home Affairs, Jitendra Singh said in reply to a joint question by 16 MPs including Ramen Deka.

In Assam, the Maoists have stepped up their activities. The Upper Assam Leading Committee (UALC) of the CPM (Maoists) is currently operating in the State and adjoining Arunachal Pradesh and have been involved in incidents of looting of weapons and extortions from local villagers, the Minister revealed.

The UALC is also engaged in recruitment and training of cadres for the outfit in Assam. These cadres have been utilised in extensive propaganda against mega dams in Assam, the Minister added.

In this backdrop Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border has emerged as another theatre of Maoists activities. The outfit is also establishing separate channels in the North-East, particularly in Nagaland for procurement of ammunition, Singh said.

The CPI (Maoists) has developed close ties with insurgent groups like Revolutionary Peoples Front (RPF) and Peoples� Liberation Army of Manipur. Both the outfits have agreed upon mutual cooperation in the areas of training, funding, supply of arms and ammunition.

The CPI (Maoist) has close links with foreign Maoists organisations in Philippines and Turkey among others. The outfit is also a member of �Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and Organisations of South Asia (CCOMPOSA). The Maoists parties of South Asia are members of this conglomerate. The forays of CPI (Maoists) into the sensitive North Eastern State are fraught with serious strategic implications, since it has potential trans-border possibilities.

The Government is closely monitoring the situation, the Minister of State said.

According to the figures given by the Minister, one incident of Maoists violence was recorded in Assam in 2010, and it increased to three incidents last year. This year, one incident has been recorded.

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