Maoists call for bandh against Op Green Hunt

Vijay Deo Jha/Parvinder Bhatia | Ranchi / Jamshedpur

RANCHI | Sunday, February 7, 2010

Close on the heels of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram’s anti-Naxal meeting in Kolkata on February 9, the CPI (Maoists) have given a call for a 72-hour bandh starting from Sunday, across five States — Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal — against Operation Green Hunt. Jharkhand has been put on high alert.

Meanwhile Maoist leader Koteswar Rao aka Kishenji who is second-in-command alleged that innocent tribals were being harassed and arrested in the name of Operation Green Hunt.

He asked Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren to abstain from attending the meeting of the Chief Ministers of four States for anti-Naxal operation scheduled to be held in Kolkata on February 9. “If Soren poses himself as the people’s Chief Minister then he should abstain from attending the meeting which is loaded with anti-people agenda,” he was quoted as saying by PTI.

Kishenji refuted the charges that the Maoists were not ready to hold negotiations with the Government. “You can not do it by pointing a gun and by terrorising people. We are ready to hold negotiations but before it the Centre will have to stop harassing and terrorising innocent people in the name of Operation Green Hunt,” he said.

Intensifying the operation against Naxalites the district police of West Singhbhum in a joint operation with paramilitary forces on Saturday busted a training camp of suspected Maoists. During the operation the police destroyed several transit camps and hideouts, Shabhu Kumar, ASP, operations, West Singhbhum Police claimed.

The district police was on a regular combining operation when the incident took place at Nawagaon in West Singhbhum situated close to the border with Orissa.

The operation was carried out in areas under Gorailkela police station and Bangaon police station in the district.

The joint team during the combing operation spotted a training camp. The police claimed they busted it after a fierce encounter which lasted for an hour, and seized arms cache, uniforms and Naxal literature. No casualty was reported from either side.

Confirming this report DK Pandey IG Operations Jharkhand Police said that it was the largest training camp of Naxalites which can accommodate nearly 300 people for the training. The police also recovered cooked food for nearly 60 Maoist cadre during the operation. “We raided the area only after having convincing reports about the presence of Naxalites in the camp. It is really a major achievement for the police in its fight against the Naxalites,” he said.

The Khunti district police along with CRPF personnel also carried a joint search operation in Rania, confirmed Khunti SP AV Minz. The area is known to be a bastion of Red rebels. In the light of the call for bandh, the Khunti Police have deployed additional forces of the CRPF on a 25 km stretch of the sensitive Khunti-Arki road which is known for the heavy presence of Naxals on its flanks.

Meanwhile the State police have made elaborate security arrangements to meet any challenge during the bandh. Sources in the department claimed that the State police were in regular touch with other State Governments for effective manning of the border areas.

On being asked about the nature of deployment of forces in sensitive areas a senior police official said: “The entire State is sensitive. You cannot have categories like a safe Jharkhand and unsafe Jharkhand. But now we have enough numbers of paramilitary forces to give the Maoists a befitting reply.”

The CRPF, recently shifted a Tripura based battalion to Tamar in Ranchi district to reinforce the 66 battalions of the Central paramilitary forces deployed in the State.

There are five units of Cobra (Commando Battalions for Resolute Action), stationed in Barhi in Hazaribagh. The unit is on the move to familiarise itself with the area especially to Kiriburu in West Singhbhum. Air surveillance will be resorted to keep tab over the movements of Naxalites, official said.