STRIKE FORCE

The 9th Congress of the Maoists in the Bheemband forest on the Bihar-Jharkhand border, part of the so-called 8216;8216;liberated8217;8217; zone, in January 2007 saw over 100 delegates discuss the road ahead. They decided to form an Eastern Regional Command that has now been given 17 platoons of 20-odd armed members each. Enrolment of new members continues. According to the Institute for Conflict Management, Jharkhand alone has seen a threefold increase in the number of armed cadre over the last three years. In fact, Besra8217;s questioning had also provided the first warning that Naxalites were planning a major attack on an armoury in Orissa. He spoke of Bargarh as the target. The Naxals eventually struck at Nayagarh, the change in plan perhaps being necessitated by Besra8217;s arrest. His questioning also provided what is perhaps the most exhaustive insight into the organisational structure of the Communist Party of India Maoist yet8212;a network that involves four 8216;8216;regional bureaus8217;8217; and 17 8216;8216;state bureaus8217;8217;; a two-year budget of Rs 60 crores and urban units to target a plan to raise new 8216;8216;companies8217;8217; to boost its striking capabilities in central and eastern India.

Here8217;s what the Naxalite leadership appears to be like. At the top, you have a 14-member politburo and a 17-member Central Committee headed by Ganapathi. The politburo, incidentally, has seven members from Andhra Pradesh, including Ganapathi who hails from Karimnagar district. The Central Committee oversees four regional bureaus covering the East, North, South-West and Central parts of the country. The Eastern Bureau handles Lower Assam, West Bengal, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand. The Northern Bureau is called 3U since it covers Uttar Bihar, Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh and also handles Delhi, Haryana and Punjab. The Central Bureau is in charge of Andhra Pradesh, including North Telangana and parts of AP bordering Orissa. Operations in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat are looked after by the South-West Regional Bureau. Below the regional bureaus are the 17 state bureaus. And then there are committees and groups that look after specialised tasks. The Naxal8217;s budget is no less painstakingly-compiled than a government8217;s. Rs 60 crore for two years 2007 and 2008, most of it8212;about Rs 42 crore8212;allotted for logistics. The Central Technical Command gets another big chunk, Rs 10 crore, with communication receiving nearly Rs 5 crore. Intelligence Rs 2 crore and technical work Rs 1 crore complete the list.

A nine-member Central Military Commission is in charge of procurement of arms and ammunition, communication and electronic equipment. Then there is the Central Technical Committee that is tasked with production of arms including country-made weapons, grenades8230;even rocket launchers.

Last year, raids in Chennai led to the discovery of a unit that was assembling rocket launchers. Training is a meticulous affair, says a police officer who has been tracking their growth over the years. 8216;8216;A recruit from Bihar or Jharkhand could be sent as far away as Kerala for training,8217;8217; he points out. The system is such that there is a core group of armed personnel in each area of operation. They are supported by armed militia whenever needed, for instance during 8216;8216;swarming8217;8217; of a police station or camp. The militia return to their villages once an operation ends but the core armed personnel function on a full-time basis. Intelligence inputs suggest that the militants have begun using bullet-proof vests and might even have access to night-vision devices that they could use to their advantage during attacks on security personnel and police camps. A wide range of sophisticated devices, including Claymore mines, camera flashes, mobile phones and radio signal detonation devices are now being used in attacks.

8216;8216;There is a move to create a new unit to make gelatine slurry,8217;8217; an officer said. And as if to leave no one in doubt about its abilities, the organisation also has its own MI Military Intelligence and Central Instructors Team.What has security agencies worried is the revelation that the Maoists have recently established a network in Assam to procure arms and ammunition. 8216;8216;Their target is to have a stockpile of 200 rounds of ammunition for each weapon they have,8217;8217; says an officer. The arrested Naxalite leader also confirmed that they had drawn up a hit-list of politicians who mobilised popular support against them; the Government has braced itself for more attacks like that on JMM MP Sunil Mahato in Jharkhand last year. But the Government may be hamstrung by the fact that Central forces are stretched thin and despite Prime Minister Manmohan Singh8217;s exhortation to 8216;8216;eliminate8217;8217; the 8216;8216;virus8217;8217;, state police forces are just not equipped to counter the challenge being mounted by the Naxalites. 8216;8216;The Naxalites have a leadership in place throughout the country. They8217;re extremely focused, their daily survival is based on it. But the Government does not seem to be focused enough,8217;8217; points out Ajai Sahni of the Institute of Conflict Management. The only consolation8212;if it can be called that8212;is that there is no concrete evidence so far of foreign help in their operations.

8216;8216;They liase with like-minded groups in other countries, including Nepal, but their operations are largely based on their network across India,8217;8217; says a senior police officer. The 9th Congress held last year also resolved to drum up popular support in new areas, including states in north India. Urban sub-committees have since been set up to target industrial workers, develop mass organisations and form town committees in areas hitherto untouched by Naxal ideology.

In fact, the manner in which the Congress was planned gives an insight into their organisational capabilities, says an officer. For the Congress, they had separate teams handling computers, medical emergencies, photography, documentation and communication. This and the attack in Orissa are worrying signs of a growing Naxal presence that needs an urgent response from the government.

Attack and ReactThe latest response from the government is creation of a specialised force to operate in Naxal-infested areas on the lines of a suggestion made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a conference on internal security last month. To begin with, two battalions about 2,000 personnel are likely to be handpicked from the Central Reserve Police Force that is already deployed in these areas. They will receive training in jungle and guerilla warfare before deploying them to take on the Naxalites.Government sources say nearly 10 such battalions might need to be raised in due course to make the security forces more effective in the fight against Naxalism. 8216;8216;The answer is not in numbers but in the level of training. There are adequate training facilities across the country for the special force that will be raised,8217;8217; says an official of the Union Home Ministry. But security analysts feel this is just not enough and point out that no more than 15,000 Central paramilitary personnel are combating Naxalites across the country. 8216;8216;The CRPF is not being used as a counter-terrorism force in areas where they are deployed. In any case, it is more of an emergency response force. Here, we are looking at a protracted battle and it is the state police that have to come into play more effectively,8217;8217; says Ajai Sahni.

Existing mechanisms include a Task Force headed by the Special Secretary Internal Security in the Union Home Ministry that periodically reviews security measures in the Naxal-affected states. States like Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand are in the process of revamping their intelligence apparatus and the Centre has assured them all help. Naxal-affected states spending money on upgrading their police infrastructure get 100 per cent reimbursement from the Centre under the Security Related Expenditure SRE scheme.