Maoists trying to set up bases in State

GUWAHATI, Feb 20 – After establishing their bases in some other parts of the country, the Maoist armed groups have started making efforts to establish their roots in the North Eastern region and all the police forces and other security agencies operating in the region have been alerted to look for such possibilities, highly placed security sources said. Sources told The Assam Tribune that so far, the Maoist rebel groups have not been able to establish strong bases in the North East region, but according to intelligence inputs, such groups have started making efforts to do so to expand their bases. Sources said that the Maoist groups may target the tea tribes in their fight for getting the status of Scheduled Tribes and the November 24 clashes in the Beltola area of Guwahati city put the Maoist groups in an advantageous position to target the tea tribes. According to reports, the Maoist rebel groups have already extended moral support to the tea tribes of Assam following the clashes in Beltola.

Security agencies are of the view that the All Adivasi National Liberation Army (AANLA) might be targeted by the Maoist rebel groups to establish their roots in the North East and senior leaders of the Adivasi outfit recently visited Jharkhand, which gave rise to speculations about possibility of tie up between the AANLA and Maoist rebel groups. However, till date, the security agencies have no concrete evidence of tie up between the AANLA and the Maoist groups, sources admitted. However, it is a fact that members of the over ground Maoist groups paid several visits to the North East states including Nagaland in recent times, but the real purpose of their visits is not yet known.

In recent times, the Maoist rebel groups issued statements in different parts of India extending support to the “nationalist struggles” of other parts of the country including the North East, but security agencies are of the view that because of the ideological differences, it would be difficult for the Maoist rebel groups to align with the prominent militant groups of the North East including the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). However, the possibility of tactical alliances between the Maoist groups and the militant groups of North East cannot be ruled out, sources admitted.

Though the Government of Bhutan recently claimed that members of Maoist rebel groups infiltrated into that country through Assam, the security forces operating in Assam do not have any concrete evidence of the same as yet.

It may be mentioned here that the Maoist rebel groups have already established their bases in at least 15 states of the country and they have become very active in the states like Chattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand, parts of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, and parts of West Bengal etc.