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Maoists get arms from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal: Chidambaram

Maoists are acquiring weapons through Bangladesh, Myanmar and possibly Nepal, according to the home minister, P Chidambaram, who nonetheless has expressed government’s willingness for a dialogue with them provide they abjure violence.

Naxalism remains the biggest internal security threat to India, he said and hit out at intellectuals who still try to ‘romanticise’ the naxalities.

In a wide-ranging interview to PTI Saturday, Chidambaram said the government is practical enough to understand that the Naxals would not lay down arms.

Naxalite insurgency spreading like wildfire in Bharat. Hindustan's Maoist insurgency map. There are secessionist movements in almost every state in "India" encompasisng more than 200 districts. The Naxals have been supported by the Maoists in Nepal. With the Maoist victory in Nepal the Naxals and Maoists of Bharat are increasingly more assertive. There were a 1,591 incidents of Maoist violence resulting in 721 killings; this year until August there had been 1,405 incidents, resulting in 580 deaths spread over 11 states. The situation in the northeastern parts of the country, the prime minister warned, was far from comfortable. "In two of the states, Manipur and Assam, current levels of violence give us cause for concern. According to home minister P Chidambaram, they had presence in 17 states and were responsible for 90 percent of the violence in the country. Bharat Verma says New Delhi and the state capitals have almost ceded the governmental control over 40 % of the Union’s territory to the Naxalites.

He said the West Bengal government has ‘learnt a lesson very late’ after the Lalgarh operation but he would not comment much on the West Bengal government’s decision to secure the release of an abducted police official by not opposing the bail application of about 20 pro-Maoist trials.

‘In terms of the threat to security from Indian sources or internal sources, Naxalism remains the biggest threat. There is, of course, the other threat which is cross border terrorism but that is emanating from across the border,’ he said.

‘There is no evidence of any money flowing in from abroad to the Maoists. But there is certainly evidence of weapons being smuggled from abroad through Myanmar or Bangladesh which reaches the Maoists.’

Asked whether some weapons are coming through Nepal, he said ‘it is possible.’

To a question whether there is any Pakistan angle to it, Chidambaram said they were not sure where the weapons are originating from.

‘We know now that the weapons are coming through Bangladesh and Myanmar and possibly Nepal. The border is very porous. The Indo-Nepal border is a very porous border.’ He said police has not found any weapons with Pakistani marking.

The Maoists had looted ‘our own armouries’ and they had said that the objective of the attack on the Sankhrail police station in West Bengal was weapons and money.

‘Even after this statement, if people romanticise the naxalities, all I can say that only God can help them,’ he said.

Asked if there are any groups from abroad backing the Maoists, the minister said ‘I don’t know. It is possible that they get some intellectual support. I hear voices of some human rights group from abroad which say that we have unleashed a war on the Maoists. That is the intellectual support I am referring to.’

Regarding any evidence of external help to Maoists, Chidambaram said it may be at the level of intellectual or ideological level.

India map: Naxalite Maoist insurgency map of India map : More than 89 insurgencies rage in India

Queried about the Maoist leader Kishenji’s statement that they would not surrender arms and that forces should be withdrawn from the entire naxal-affected areas along with the release of the cadre and their supporters, he said ‘I am not going to respond to Kishenji.’

Chidambaram said ‘he (Kishenji) is the leader of an organisation declared as unlawful. Therefore, as one representing the government, I have no intention of responding to him.’

To a question whether the government was working on an out-of-the-box solution to break the logjam with the Maoists to bring them to the negotiating table, Chidambaram said ‘there is no jam. It is only those who romanticise left-wing extremism think that there is a jam.’

‘This is the land where Mahatma Gandhi won us freedom through non-violence. Can you have a greater oppressor than a colonial government,’ he said.

The minister said if the naxalities claim to have the majority of the people behind them what prevented them from contesting elections and implementing policies which they think are the right policies.

India map: Naxalite insurrection 2bcorrected

‘Be that as it may, the elected government today says you halt violence and come and talk to us about your grievances,’ he said.

Asked if he was inviting them to join the political mainstream, Chidambaram said ‘they should. They should join the political mainstream if they want to work for the people.’http://www.newagebd.com/2009/oct/25/front.html