Another naxalite strike

Bodies of Jharkhand policemen killed by Maoist rebels. - SASANKA SEN/AP

Jharkhand witnesses renewed naxalite action, with the Maoist Communist Centre striking at will.

WITH the naxalite activity spreading into the tribal belt along the Jharkhand-Orissa-Andhra Pradesh border, the outlawed Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) has been testing its strength by resorting to frequent armed operations. Opening a strategic flank near the Jharkhand-Orissa border, MCC guerillas killed 18 persons 14 of them Jharkhand policemen after luring the victims into a minefield with two decoy murders. The ambush, which was planned elaborately over three days, and the gunbattle, involving 60 to 70 armed extremists and two police squads, took place in the Saranda forest range of West Singhbhum district on the night of December 20.

Police sources said that the extremists, led by an elderly woman, attacked a police convoy at Jaraikela village when 60 policemen were returning with the body of a mukhiya (village headman) from Bitkelsoi village, bordering Orissa. The extremists torched seven police vehicles and fled with three sophisticated weapons. The Orissa-Jharkhand border was sealed immediately and all police stations around the continguous Sundergarh and Keonjhar districts in Orissa were put on high alert.

A strike as sweeping and fierce as this is a rare occurrence in the Saranda forest range and it has triggered fears among the law-enforcers that the extremists have now found a staging post to launch attacks and withdraw into Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, where the outlawed People's War Group (PWG) is active , before police reinforcements can arrive.The police said that the MCC was immediately under suspicion as it was believed to have been working in the area for the past four years. A naxalite base in West Singhbhum district has ominous implications for the State government as it is one of few districts where extremist-related attacks were unheard of.

On December 17, a forester was killed by extremists for refusing to part with his firearm. The same day, the headman of Bitkelsoi was beheaded for being a police informer, and his body was burnt. Informed of the incidents, two police squads set out for the Saranda forest. While one team, headed by Deputy Superintendent of Police B. Toppo, entered the forest from Kiriburu, about 60 km from Chaibasa, the district headquarters, the other reached the forest from Manoharpur.

According to a police officer, both teams converged on Digha near Bitkelsoi. They recovered the charred body of the headman and were returning through Jaraikela forest route when, somewhere between Bitkelsoi and Tirilposi, they stumbled on landmines laid by the extremists.

An informed source said that at least five mines exploded first. "The mines were of low intensity. But they damaged all the seven vehicles in which 60 police personnel were travelling. As the policemen came out of the damaged vehicles, the MCC activists opened fire. The extremists appear to have anticipated that the police would go to Saranda to investigate the killings of the forester and the mukhiya. Accordingly, they chalked out an elaborate plan of action." District Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar Mishra said that the gunbattle started at 7 p.m. and continued for two hours.

A police officer, who survived the attack, said: "All the casualties suffered gunshot wounds. The extremists had positioned themselves strategically and they fired indiscriminately at the police convoy. Although the policemen retaliated, they were no match for the extremists who were armed with AK 47 and self-loading rifles and were well organised. The raiding parties were in total disarray."

Ever since the formation of Jharkhand in November 2000, the MCC has shifted its base from central Bihar to the southern region of the new State. Out of the 22 districts in Jharkhand, naxalites are said to be active in 15. These include Palamau, Giridih, Garwa, Chatra, Latehar, Ranchi, Gumla, Hazaribagh, Lohardanga and Bokaro. Jharkhand was formed with 18 districts of south Bihar. Subsequently, Saraikela-Kharswan, Latehar, Simdega and Jamtara districts were created by bifurcating West Singhbhum, Palamau, Gumla and Godda districts. The militants resort to armed operations and organise bandhs and economic blockades frequently in order to mobilise public opinion against a Gaya court order sentencing to death three of their comrades for the Bara massacre. Although Gaya is in the parent State of Bihar, the MCC has decided to focus its attention more on Jharkhand.

Between May 6 and 8, the MCC, along with its extremist ally the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) People's War, organised an economic blockade in protest against the Supreme Court's verdict upholding the death sentence passed against the three activists and also against "state oppression'', implementation of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), and the "anti-labourer and fascist policies'' of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre. The MCC's latest statement, released to the press in Ranchi, described the Bara massacre judgment as a "calculated act of psychological terror'' unleashed against the people's movement through which Dalits were trying to reassert themselves against feudal forces.

On June 3, 1987, following the gruesome massacre at Dalelchak-Baghuara in Aurangabad district in which 34 upper-caste landholders were killed, the government of undivided Bihar banned the MCC under Section 16 of Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1908. In the mid-1990s, MCC members slit open the throats of 54 upper-caste men at Bara near Tekrai in Gaya district.

Intelligence sources in Ranchi claimed that by resorting to armed operations by calling frequent blockades and bandhs, the MCC was trying to strengthen its base. The MCC has been finding the going tough following the crackdown on its cadre. Also, Jharkhand Chief Minister Babulal Marandi's call for surrender had caused some confusion in its ranks, although the MCC leadership attacked the proposal describing it as a "dope'' to disorient its members. By resorting to armed actions and enforcing bandhs repeatedly in the southern districts, the organisation wants to capitalise on their cascading effect on life there. That, observers said, was part of its effort to expand its organisation further in Ranchi, Lohardanga, Palamau, East and West Singhbhum districts where it faced resistance from private armies of upper-caste landlords, such as the Ali Sena and the Ranvir Sena. The first target of the MCC's attack is generally contractors who are said to be aiding and abetting the private militia.

Intelligence sources also claim that the latest burst of violence is the part of MCC's defensive battle for survival. With the security forces intensifying their drive against the MCC and the People's War in the tribal-dominated hills and forests in southern Jharkhand, the situation is tense. Police reports say that between October 2001 and November 2002, 74 policemen were killed by extremists. The number of extremists who lost their lives in clashes with the police during the same period is 55. There were 106 extremist-related incidents of violence.

The MCC's control over southern Jharkhand is evident from the fact that it is running a parallel administration there. It was under its supervision that elections to at least 150 village bodies were held in 1998. These elected village bodies, which are not officially recognised and do not get any economic assistance from the State government, are involved in rural development activities with funds collected as "taxes" from local residents.

Meanwhile, the MCC and the P.W. have expanded their bases to West Bengal's Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia districts, causing grave concern to the Left Front government of the State.