MAOISTS ARE BACK TRACKING AS SECURITY FORCES STEP UP ACTION IN ODISHA

MAOISTS ARE BACK TRACKING AS SECURITY FORCES STEP UP ACTION IN ODISHA 26/12/2011
ODISHA NEWS:


With the Boarder Security Forces, along with the local police, intensifying the operation against the outlawed CPI (Maoist) in Southern Odisha, the rebels fleeing the area. Apprehending encounter by the security forces, they are moving to the interior and unknown destinations. The recovery of huge cache of arms and ammos from the Maoist dumps in Rayagada and Malkangiri during the past couple of days gives indication that the Left Wing Extremists are fleeing their camps to avert encounter with paramilitary forces.


In a joint raid by the 130th Battalion of BSF and Koraput District Police on Friday, the cops unearthed a Maoist dump near Sisaput,about 100 km from Koraput bordering Malkangiri district and recovered huge quantities of communication equipments, explosives and Maoist literature from there. The explosives were dumped by the Maoists to use it in some future offensive. Investigation is on," said a senior police officer engaged in anti-Maoist operations in Koraput. "Presence of more explosives in the area can't be ruled out. We are planning of more operations in the area," the officer added.


This incident clearly gives a cue that the Maoist rebels are leaving their camps for some more interior and safe locations fearing police action,
The extremists were probably planning for a major attack in the area, but fled away leaving behind their arms and ammunition and other materials underground anticipating a police attack, sources said.

The explosives were dumped by the Maoists to use it in some future offensive. Investigation is on," said a senior police officer engaged in anti-Maoist operations in Koraput. "Presence of more explosives in the area can't be ruled out. We are planning of more operations in the area," the officer added.
The MHA, the nodal agency for all internal security issues, did have a Maoist management division, but it was staffed with bureaucrats who had never served in Maoist-affected states or had any experience in counter-insurgency. The police bore the brunt of the Maoist attacks, yet weren’t included at the policymaking level to be able to make a meaningful contribution.


For years, the ragged security infrastructures in the Naxal-affected states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra have worked in isolation, pitting their motley crew of state police and central paramilitary forces against Maoists—the whole thing was marked by an absence of strategy.


However, things began to change and an anti-Maoist strategy began to take shape only after the deployment of elite Border Security Forces in the Maoist infested South Odisha.

SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA
BUREAU CHIEF, THESE DAYS, ODISHA