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Left wing extremism biggest threat : PM

	December 24, 2007

During a week that witnessed one of the biggest jail breaks by Naxalites in the country, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that Left wing extremism poses the biggest security challenge to the nation. Addressing a meeting of Chief Ministers called to discuss internal security in New Delhi on Dec. 20,

he asked the states to establish specialised and dedicated forces to eliminate this virus. Dr. Manmohan Singh said Left wing extremism continues to affect

many parts of our country. He said not a day passes without an incident of Left wing extremism taking place somewhere or the other.



Dr. Manmohan Singh said, “the reach of terrorists is such that no one can say that they are fully immune from such attacks.” He told the Chief Ministers that internal security challenges need their personal attention and eadership. He said, “We cannot rest in peace until we have dealt with this single biggest

security challenge to the Indian state.”



The Prime Minister assured all possible assistance from the Union Home Ministry for the setting up of specialised dedicated forces by the states

to fight extremism. He said the states also need to consider joint operations in appropriate cases.



Referring to the jail break earlier in the week in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district, where nearly 300 prisoners including Maoists escaped, the Prime

Minister lamented the shortage of policemen to counter the fast emerging challenges including hinterland terrorism. He said that he was informed

that there were only three police personnel in the Dantewada jail.



Speaking of the roots of extremism, Dr. Manmohan Singh linked economic inequality to internal security and said that uneven development

was giving rise to many security problems. He said, “development and internal security are two sides of the same coin. Each is critically dependent on the

other.”



Dr. Manmohan Singh also called for action to stem the flow of funds to Naxal groups and said that essential economic infrastructure needs to be

protected.





Strengthen intelligence : Chief Ministers



A majority of the Chief Ministers who participated in the conference on internal security on Thursday called for the strengthening of intelligence

machinery, better Centre-State coordination, more funds for modernisation of police forces and addressing economic and developmental issues that

have a bearing on internal security.



In his closing remarks, Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh said conferences of this nature send

a strong message that the “political leadership of the

country can rise above our political and party

affiliations when it comes to facing national challenges,

particularly those concerning internal security.”



Noting that opinions expressed by the Chief

Ministers were varied and reflected the local realities,

he expressed satisfaction that there was a general

agreement on the approach to tackling the problem of

naxalism and the conference discussed a wide range

of alternative strategies.



Dr. Singh asked the Home Minister to establish

a dedicated trained force at the Centre either as part

of an existing force or a separate one to assist States to

tackle naxalite groups.



The Chief Ministers of the Bharatiya Janata Party

(BJP)-ruled States argued in favour of tough anti-terror

laws like the POTA and checking illegal migration

from across the borders.



Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi called for a coherent approach and policy to deal with terrorism

and said the time had come for a white paper on

terrorism.



“While anti-terror mechanisms are being

strengthened and terror laws are being made stringent

all over the world, our country has even abolished the

existing law of POTA,” he said.



Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and

her Madhya Pradesh counterpart Shivraj Singh

Chouhan called for revival of POTA.







Mass jailbreak in Chhattisgarh



In a daring operation, about 100 imprisoned Maoists snatched the guns of their guards and broke out of its Chhattisgarh jail on Dec. 16 evening in a 15minute

operation timed between dinner and the evening security drill.



The Chhattisgarh police claim to have found a letter written by a Maoist leader and some pamphlets from the possession of the arrested sub-jailor of

Dantewada jail.



“A letter written in English by Maoist leader Narayanan Sanyal was recovered during a raid on jailor B.S. Mankar’s residence,” Dantewada District

Superintendent of Police Rahul Sharma told mediapersons. Mankar was suspended on Dec. 17. The Deputy Inspector of General (Prisons) was also

suspended for security failure leading to the jailbreak. The police took Mankar into custody and carried out a search of his house.



In the escalating Naxal violence in Chhattisgarh, all the 12 policemen who were missing after an encounter with Maoists in Dantewada forests, have

been killed by the extremists.



States say ‘no’ to Federal Agency



Amidst a growing clamour for an anti-terror law, the states gave a cold shoulder to the UPA mooted proposal for concurrent jurisdiction for a Central

investigation agency to tackle inter-state and international crimes and made it clear that they were not at all equipped to handle terrorist incidents.



While the BJP-ruled states came out against the idea of a federal agency, even the Congress Chief Ministers appeared lukewarm to any perceived Central

encroachment of the state subject of law and order. The Chief Ministers made it clear to the Centre that they needed more time to consider the proposal, as

the states already hand over investigations to the CBI in cases that are beyond their jurisdiction and control.

Apparently, the states were apprehensive about the Centre misusing the federal agency and getting into their local issues.



“All the 12 missing policemen are killed and their 11 self-loaded rifles have been looted by the rebels,” Dantewada police said. The victims included eight

personnel from the Chhattisgarh Armed Forces and four from the District Forces. The personnel got separated in Golapalli jungle on Thursday, Dec. 20,

about 450 km. from the state capital, when a 28member police party came under attack from the Maoists.



Maoists ‘liberate’ Patna jail for eight hours



Taking cue from the Chhattisgarh incident, some

300 Maoist prisoners seized control of a heavily

fortified Bihar jail on Dec. 18 , turning a patch of land

4km from the heart of the state capital into a “liberated

zone” for eight hours.



The rebellion underlined the Maoists’ ability to

disrupt high-security prisons two days after some 100

rebels had pulled off a lightning jailbreak in

Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada.



At the Beur Central Jail in Patna, unarmed Maoist

prisoners beat up the guards, vandalised the kitchen

and gathered in the courtyard under a Buddha statue.

They stayed from 7 a.m. till almost 3 p.m. while the

guards huddled near a boundary wall, leaving the

entire premises with 2,000 other prisoners at the

Maoists’ mercy.



The unrest was quelled only after some 200

specially trained police jawans were brought in and

used their batons to drive the prisoners back into the

wards, jail sources said.