Crimson Signs

 

Moreover,  the Maoists dubbed ‘rag tag’ by some had in their very opening rounds displayed deadly adeptness in use of explosives, their core group having had extensive training from the LTTE. The manner in which they are expanding their Rupees 1500 crore annual fiscal turnover through extortion and looting also has the tell tale mark of the LTTE, with added poppy farming (Taliban style) perhaps on advice from LeT / Al Qaeda. Sprinkling of AK-47s and Uzis had been detected previously but recently recoveries were made of a US-made Colt and Hart-manufactured M-16 rifle, an Italian pistol and UK made bulletproof jacket from an arms supplier Praful Malakar and CPI (M) Maoist Zonal Commander Anil Yadav and simultaneous recovery of an AK-56 rifle from Patna. Thereafter, CEO of a Hyderabad based company, Leckon Infra Private Limited, and seven employees were arrested en route to supply 50 kgs of explosives to the Maoists on the Andhra-Odisha border. The CEO was reportedly carrying the explosive in his own SUV in addition to mobile phones, batteries and Maoist literature in Telugu. Leckon is working on projects worth Rupees 291crores in the Maoist affected areas. Possibilities of the company having been infiltrated by Maoists and / or forced to supply explosives under threat exists. 

 

Sophisticated Chinese communication equipment was discovered from underground caches in Odisha few months back, wrapped and sealed for future use. Earlier, laptops too were recovered from Maoist hideouts but news was kept largely under wraps. More recently, a landmine manufacturing facility was unearthed in Jhumka Village, Koraput District of Odisha. China is now supplying assault rifles to the PLA in Manipur and the Maoists through Kachen rebels in north Myanmar.  The Maoists have now struck in Assam also. China and Pakistan want to synergize terrorist outfits in India to create a Compact Revolutionary Zone (CRZ) all along the foothills of Himalayas from J&K to Assam and link this arch through the Maoist affected states right down to Kerala in the South. Kerala already has LeT footprints and the PFI (Popular Front of India) has picked up weapons against the Indian State. The CPI (M) plans forming a Strategic United Front in collusion northeast terrorists, Bangladesh and Nepal. Should Khaleda Zia and the BNP return to power in Bangladesh in 2014, anti-India terrorist camps may well be revived. Some 40 million illegal weapons are circulating in India with an annual trade of US$ 4 million. Contiguity of international border is hardly pre-requisite for pumping weapons, fake currency, drugs and infiltration into India. The nexus between the CPI (M) and PLA of Manipur is growing stronger and the latter is providing training to Maoists in Jharkhand and Saranda forests. 

 

Very little external support to Maoists is a misnomer and being played down by the government. LeT (covert arm of ISI) representatives have been attending Maoists meetings and ISI is supplying arms. China is also arming and training ULFA and Chinese nationals have attempted contacting the NSCN. Joint training of Indian insurgents is being organized in northern Myanmar. Delivering the Madhav Rao Scindia lecture on 17 January 2009, the Dalai Lama had said, “The only way to tackle terrorism is through prevention.” While hardcore terrorists are beyond the prevention stage, there is plenty wisdom in these word of the Dalai Lama. Simply put, it implies that if we treat the terrorists / terrorist organizations as the centre of gravity (as appears to be the case in dealing with Maoists), we may be going horribly wrong. The centre of gravity essentially has to be the community / population so that their support to terrorism gets negated; providing security both physical and moral including through systematic education, development and psychological programs. Continuous de-radicalization is essential with varied focus select communities/ regions, teachers / religious teachers, youth, girls / mothers, apprehended terrorists plus population at large liable to support terrorism. Force will undoubtedly be required to eliminate hardcore terrorists / terrorist infrastructure through special operations – directly or through proxy coupled with effective intelligence acquisition and psychological operations. 

 

Periodic evaluation of measures affected versus changes too is required. At the strategic level, a doctrine is required to attack radicalization and recruitment for making the environment more permissive despite this being a very tall order. If radicalization outweighs the de-radicalization efforts then the state will still lose in the long run. De-radicalization is intimately linked to good governance – something that is largely at premium. In year 2005, a decision by the Division at Kargil to handover five of the 10 schools being run under Op ‘Sadbhavna’ to the state government evoked massive civilian protests fearing loss in quality of education; norm in government schools being 10-12 teachers on payroll but not more than 2-3 turning up on daily average. Similar is the case in the Maoist heartland of Madh where the Ramakrishna Mission works successfully in fields of education (six schools - 1700 students), health (Health Outreach Project under UNICEF) and agriculture since 1985 while public distribution system remains defunct. India cannot resolve the Maoist issue unless the community / population are treated as centre of gravity and operations against the hardcore become part of overall good governance.

 

 

Views expressed are personal