ISI hand behind Maoist-Simi nexus

The West Bengal government flagged strong suspicion on Thursday of attempts by Pakistan’s ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) to forge a possible alliance between fronts of Maoists and Muslim fundamentalists in the bordering districts of Bangladesh. 

In a meeting convened to take a stock of Left wing terrorism, West Bengal’s DGP Naparajit Mukherjee is believed to have warned about the suspected ISI-encouraged congregation between the pro-Left wing extremism elements and remnants of SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India) in the districts of Murshidabad, according to sources. Mukherjee urged the Home Ministry to take the issue seriously.

Home Secretary R K Singh chaired the meeting called by the Union Home Ministry to discuss Left wing terrorism in nine affected states including Chattisgarh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, UP, West Bengal and Odisha.

The ministry sought views of DGPs and chief secretaries of the states to give their feedback on the anti-hostage policy and standard operating procedure to be followed during encounters formulated by the ministry. 
 
The meeting was broadly focused on three issues - long-term strategy to counter extremism, operational and tactical needs and funding that the ministry provides to police as well as for the development of affected areas.

The ministry has again emphasised the need to hold on to the areas through increased police presence in police stations and pickets in the red zones, focusing on proper investigation by setting up a special investigation team (SIT) to look after important cases and monitoring of court matters and coming up with more development schemes, like the ones that exist in Bastar and Sarkanda.

Tribal land issue

Under confidence-building measures, the ministry has urged the states to recruit tribals and local people even if they have to relax norms. The states have also been requested to resolve problems related to the title deeds of tribals. It is learnt that the Naxals are exploiting the resentment of the tribals whose land ownership has not been resolved.

The states have been told to revisit the rejected title deeds but the problem pointed out by the representatives was that many people from outside had also laid claims to land making the issue complex.

5 CRPF personnel killed in IED blast

At least five CRPF personnel were killed while nine others suffered grievous injuries in a landmine blast triggered by suspected Maoistses in the forest area of Gaya on Thursday, reports DHNS from Patna. The attack took place on a day when the Centre met DGPs of Maoists-infested states. Inspector Ramji Ram, who was leading one of the teams, was killed on the spot. The injured  were flown to Patna on a chopper where they were admitted to a private hospital.