High Alert in Chhattisgarh After Maoist Killings

Sunday saw the biggest single casualty inflicted by the Maoists so far in 2009 but there have already been over a thousand such attacks in India’s nine Maoist-hit states this year.

According to the Indian Home Ministry, at least 450 people were killed by the Maoists in the first six months of this year, with Chhattisgarh alone accounting for about a third.

During the general elections in May, trains were hijacked and 17 people were murdered, including election officials.

“There are incidents taking place in Chhattisgarh, in Jharkhand, Orissa, some incidents in Bihar, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. But the two states that are worst affected are Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand,” explained former Home Minister Shivraj Patil.

Decade-long conflict

Claiming to be fighting for the rights of landless peasants and labourers in rural areas left behind by India's rapid economic growth, the Maoists, who don’t number more than 10,000, have waged their war for over a decade now.

On Monday, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh put on a brave face. “The time has now come to take the fight to the Maoists' camp,” he said. “Our fight is carrying on and we have also suffered a lot. But this will not bring down our confidence. We will take the fight in a decisive direction.”

In recent years, the government has tried hard to follow an integrated approach of dovetailing policing with development work. It has implemented a range of schemes through different ministries.

Threat to democracy and economic progress

But the approach does not appear to have worked. Despite the setting up of Counter Insurgency and Anti-Terrorism (CIAT) schools, the sharing of intelligence between affected states and the improvement of inter-state coordination by the union government, the rebels still seem to have an upper hand.

The Maoist insurgency threatens to disrupt the democratic process in several states, as well as hinder economic progress.

M R Narayana Swami, a close watcher of the Maoists’ activities, thinks they have achieved moderate success in their aims: “They have caused immense financial losses to the industry and government by disrupting rail traffic in states, which are economically very active and in fact the losses amount to billions of rupees and that is a point to be noted.”

Disturbing pattern

Senior intelligence officials have found a disturbing pattern to attacks against the police, especially in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. While rushing in reinforcements to thickly forested areas, police personnel seem to ignore the fact that vast tracts of terrain are heavily booby-trapped with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).

Having a distinct advantage of the topography of these tracts, the rebels lie quietly in wait and trigger these devices, which often results in huge casualties of security personnel.

Last month, the Indian security forces captured a key Maoist stronghold in West Bengal after battling through landmines and gunfire with the rebels. New Delhi then formally banned the Maoists, designating them officially as a terrorist organisation.

The government is now expected to call another meeting of the chief ministers of the Maoist affected states to review their approach before mounting a serious offensive against the insurgent group.

Author: Murali Krishnan
Editor: Thomas Bärthlein