India`s Maoists decide to move into Jammu and Kashmir

The banned CPI (Maoist) organization, in a document released on Monday, exhorted its fighters of the 'People's Liberation Guerrilla Army' (PLGA) to move towards the Valley to join the 'movement'.

"The central committee of the CPI (Maoist) calls upon party members and PLGA fighters to mobilize in support of the Kashmiri people's struggle for azadi."

The Maoists, who now virtually control large tracts of territory across remote parts of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa, have been looking for opportunities to make inroads in other parts of the country, Asian Age reported here today.

The Maoists (also called Naxalites) had earlier moved into Nandigram in West Bengal and extended support to the violent agitation spearheaded by Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Banerjee.

When the state's ruling Marxists 'recaptured' control of that area, the Maoists beat a retreat.

The Maoists have been targeting the rough terrain of Uttarkahand for quite some time.

In the past they have expressed readiness to the insurgent movements in the Northeast.

In Kashmir, they are trying to adopt a slightly different line.

The document reads: "The people of Kashmir should come up with the slogan: 'Neither India nor Pakistan, but a sovereign, independent Kashmir'."

Sources, however, said that this was just an 'ideological stance', and the primary motive was to make inroads in the Kashmir Valley.

It may be recalled that back in the mid-1960s, the Naxalites led by Charu Majumdar had supported the Bangladeshi guerrillas during the 1971 war against the Pakistan Army.

The CPI (Maoist) document said people should be wary of the 'conspiracy of reactionary rulers (read India) to bring in the ghost of Pakistan to justify the brutal repression of the Kashmiri people's struggle ... and their sinister design to whip up anti-Pakistani hysteria and even a war with Pakistan in order to divert the people from the issue of azadi'. --IRNA