Biggest offensive against Maoists begins in state
After quietly preparing for several months, the Centre has finally launched its biggest ever offensive against the Maoists. Authoritative sources told DNA that as of now the operation will be limited to Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. Senior officials said more aggressive and better coordinated operations will start in Jharkhand and Orissa, but that will take time.
Senior officials revealed that the original plan was to simultaneously start the operations in four worst-affected states -- Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa -- but it was altered because of the on-going assembly elections in Jharkhand.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_bi ... te_1324838
SATP:
Joint team combs Kaimur forest area to arrest top Naxal leader in Uttar Pradesh
A joint team of the Central Reserve Police Force, Provincial Armed Constabulary and anti-Naxal (Left Wing Extremism) unit of Police began combing operations in Kaimur forest around Kon area in the Sonbhadra District on December 16 following a tip-off that the 'sub-zonal commander' of the Naxals, Munna Vishwakarma, was hiding in the area. The State Government had earlier announced a reward of INR 50,000 for Vishwakarma's capture. According to the Police, Vishwakarma, who is in-charge of Naxal's operations in the tri-junction of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand, was injured in the firing with a rival Naxal group led by Ram Vriksha Kol on November 9 and was hiding in the Kaimur forest. It is to be mentioned that Kol was killed in the firing incident. After the incident, Vishwakarma had sneaked into Rohtas District in Bihar where he received medical treatment at a private hospital. Nearly a week ago, he had returned to his hideout in the forest. According to the information with the Police, the Naxal leader has not fully recovered and can't move freely. "The Police force deployed in the area is getting inputs and we are trying to catch Munna Vishwakarma," said Superintendent of Police of Sonbhadra Preetinder Singh.
Meanwhile, Songanga Vindhyachal Committee (SVC), a group affiliated to the People's War Group, confirmed that Vishwakarma was injured but was not currently in Uttar Pradesh. Jamuna, the secretary of the group, said that contrary to the reports, Vishwakarma had not attacked Kol. Instead, a member of a group from Varanasi who had joined Kol about nine months ago had fired indiscriminately in which Kol was killed. "The assailant had attacked both Vishwakarma and Kol after he was quizzed about a levy amount of INR 1 lakh, which he had not handed over to either of them," said Jamuna.
Anti Naxal Force launches combing operation in Karnataka
The Anti-Naxal Force (ANF) has launched combing operations against the Naxals (Left Wing Extremism) holed up in the thick forests of the Western Ghats spread across Udupi, Chikmagalur and Shimoga Districts, reports Manglorean.com. According to Police sources, the operation, which will last for three days have been taken up jointly by the state Reserve Police, ANF and the civil Policemen. The teams have been provided with Global Positioning System to keep track of each other after they fan out.
Bullet for bullet against Naxals, says Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan
"It'll be bullet for a bullet in our fight against Maoists...We will not spare any Naxal in Vidarbha. They have already killed 52 police jawans this year and it is high time we take a firm stand," said Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on December 16, according to Times of India. Chavan said there was a rise in Naxal (left wing extremist) migration from other states to Maharashtra. "We cannot have any sympathy for them nor can we wait for them to surrender. So many lives have been lost. We will henceforth be more aggressive," he stated, adding, "Maoists from Nepal have infiltrated and provided firearms and logistics support to Naxals hiding in our jungles. We are, therefore, expediting the process of strengthening our police machinery in Gadchiroli and other Naxal affected areas, and providing more funds for modern weaponry, helicopters and equipment." The State Home Minister R. R. Patil, had on December 14, announced various measures being taken by Government to tackle the Naxal menace.
However, he had harped on the surrender policy for Naxals and the need for development in the region. The CM has, however, taken an aggressive stand on the issue. Chavan said that the government was also encouraging IAS and IPS officers to take up posting is these areas. "I often see officers reluctant to take up such postings. But we are now giving them incentives to serve Naxal-hit areas," he stated.
ULFA + NE-axis: Nothing new, but
http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/det ... c1809/at02
ULFA got money from political parties
The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) received “benefits” from political parties mostly in forms of money, particularly during every subsequent elections. This revelation came during questioning of the arrested leaders of the ULFA, highly placed security sources said. Sources told The Assam Tribune that the ULFA leaders, including the chairman of the outfit Arabinda Rajkhowa, did not divulge the name of any political leader who paid money to the outfit. {which may mean, hold on, we are arresting them. may be, a big may be}
Sources said that the ULFA was involved in selling arms and ammunition to different militant groups of the region including ATTF, NLFT, KLNLF etc as over the years, the outfit managed to establish very good contacts with the clandestine arms dealers of South East Asian countries, while, the outfit also received Programmable Time Device (PTD) Switches from Pakistan. {note, it was received, not bought} The outfit still has a good stock of PTD switches and the potential to trigger off explosions. However, seizures of a large number of weapons of the ULFA in 2004 and 2007 in Bangladesh severely affected the outfit, sorces added.
Sources said that the relation between ULFA and the NSCN (I-M) was never very cordial because of various reasons and one of the main reasons is the demand of the Naga militant outfit for creation of Greater Nagalim , which includes areas of seven districts of Assam. The close ties between the ULFA and NSCN (K) is the other major reason for the differences between the ULFA and NSCN (I-M). Though both the outfits refrained from attacking each other, the relations were never very comfortable and the fact was admitted by the arrested leaders of the ULFA.
Though the ULFA leaders were forced to keep mum on the problem of infiltration of Bangladeshi nationals to Assam as they were taking shelter in that country, the top leaders including Rajkhowa were not supportive of infiltration. Interestingly, it is a established fact that the ULFA leaders had close contacts in Bangladesh in political and official levels, they are yet to disclose the names of their contacts during questioning.
AGP stages protest rally in Delhi
Presenting an united face, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) today staged a sit-in-demonstration highlighting six issues including unconditional political dialogue with ULFA
{and these oiseaules were ousted only recently} and other insurgent groups. The protest rally was joined by most of the senior leaders of the regional party including MLAs and MPs. However AGP’s ally the BJP kept away from the rally, indicating the widening rift between the two allies.
The party big wigs who joined the demonstration was president and State Opposition leader, Chandra Mohan Patowary, former Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, Atul Bora, Biren Baishya, Kumar Deepak Das, Keshab Mahanta, Nurul Hussain and Biraj Sarma, amongst others.
The party’s six-point charter of demands included implementation of Assam Accord, inclusion of the six communities in the Scheduled Tribe List, immediate halt to constriction work on mega dam projects in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh and permanent resolution of the inter-State boundary problem. The AGP delegation is calling on the President tomorrow to submit a memorandum high-lighting Assam government’s failure.
http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/det ... c1809/at06
Arabinda, Raju’s police custody extended
Due to high security risk, ULFA ‘chairman’ Arabinda Rajkhowa, deputy ‘commander-in-chief’ Raju Baruah and ‘sergeant’ Raja Borah were today produced before a make-shift camp court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup at the Guwahati Central Jail where the court remanded the trio to another nine days of Assam Police custody in connection with three blasts cases No 1/2009 of Guwahati registered on January 1. Though the police sought 14 days of custody in each of the three cases registered under the city’s Bharalumukh, Bhangagarh and Paltan Bazar police stations, after they were shown arrested in connection with these three cases, the court, however, granted only three days’ custody in each of the three cases making it a total of nine days’ police custody. The January 1 blasts registered under the three police stations killed five persons besides injuring scores of others.
“The fresh custody was granted in the three blasts cases after the Robin Phukan court rejected the plea of the Assam Police which sought another 10 days police custody against Special Operation Unit (SOU) case no 2/98 in connection with which the trio had already undergone 12 days’ police remand,” advocate Bijon Mahajan and Arshad Choudhury, who appeared for the arrested rebel leaders, told media persons. It needs mention here that two other senior ULFA leaders Sasha Choudhury and Chitraban Hazarika, who are now in judicial custody, were also remanded to police custody in the three blasts cases after the expiry of the custody granted in connection with SOU case 2/98.
Meanwhile, though the production warrant of Raja Borah was also submitted by Joypur police in connection with another case reported in 2005, where Raja is an accused, the court, however, kept its decision in abeyance.
The decision on this is likely to be given after the expiry of the remand period granted in connection with the blasts cases. All the three rebel leaders were earlier brought to the Central jail premises around 2:40 in the afternoon from the Special Branch headquarters in a red Bolero car under strict security vigil and even media persons were barred from taking close view of the ULFA leaders. Family members, including ULFA chairman’s brother Ajoy Rajkonwar, his sister Chandrama Rajkumari and Raju Baruah’s brother Jiten Kalita and brother-in-law Sarat Kalita also were present in the jail premises where they were allowed to meet their relatives for a brief period.
Earlier, citing security reasons, Assam Police had sought permission from the chief secretary for facilitating the production of trio before the camp court. {at least this one has changed, so lets be happy}
http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/det ... c1809/at09
HNLC calls Meghalaya bandh on Dec 19
http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/det ... ec1809/ne1
Security meet next week --- Unified Command to weigh KLNLF’s ceasefire offer
The Unified Command will meet on December 21 to “seriously consider” reciprocating the unilateral ceasefire offer of the anti-talks Karbi outfit, the Karbi Longri National Liberation Front, and review the developments since the arrest of Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and deputy commander-in-chief Raju Barua.
The Unified Command is a three-tier security structure which plans and executes counter-insurgency operations in Assam. The meeting assumes significance because this will be the first meeting of the group, headed by chief secretary P.C. Sharma, since the formal arrest of the top Ulfa duo on December 5.
Highly placed sources said the KLNLF’s peaceful conduct has swayed Dispur to consider its offer for a dialogue to resolve their demands that included one for a separate homeland. “Backroom parleys are on between the outfit and sleuths of the special branch for giving up arms like DHD (J). The sleuths’ report will be discussed and debated at the command meeting. Based on the outcome, a recommendation will be made to Dispur which will, in consultation with the Centre, take the final call,” the source said.
The KLNLF had been in on-and-off ceasefire since January 1. It had declared a three-month “total” ceasefire in November after threatening to target Hindi-speaking people (and withdrawing the threat). It had also refrained from indulging in violence during the ongoing twin hill districts bandh in support of the statehood demand, besides not disrupting polling during the last Lok Sabha elections.
On April 6, Dispur had indicated before the polls that the outfit was in peace mode and that a channel of dialogue had been opened with the group. The KLNLF, a splinter group of the UPDS, Ulfa and the two NSCN factions, are among the groups active in Karbi Anglong. It is understood that P.C. Haldar, the Centre’s interlocutor for peace talks with both factions of the DHD, the pro-talks NDFB and the UPDS, has taken “stock” of the KLNLF’s position from the UPDS leaders and Dispur during his last visit to the state in the first week of December.
Besides the KLNLF, the Unified Command will chalk out a strategy to ensure that Ulfa does not strike following the arrest of four top leaders. The caution is understandable because chief minister Tarun Gogoi made it clear after his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and home minister P. Chidambaram this week that he was all for talks with Ulfa if it abjured violence and dropped the demand for sovereignty. “Since the situation is fluid, the Unified Command, which has played a key role in sustaining pressure on the various outfits to come overground, will take a fresh look at the security scenario and plan appropriate response. There will be no lowering of guard either against Ulfa or the anti-talks NDFB,” a source said. Among the priorities will be ensuring redeployment of existing security personnel in high-risk areas from low-risk areas and intensifying intelligence gathering. After the ceasefire with DHD (J), there has to be a new assessment.
http://telegraphindia.com/1091217/jsp/n ... 874500.jsp
Atleast four persons were summoned on Wednesday by P.G Agarwal Inquiry Commission of July 23 Imphal shoot-out to appear on the next hearing of the Commission , scheduled for January 4, next year. The summons issued by the Inquiry Commission included the two journalists,
Teressa Rehman and Soma Chowdhury of Tehelka, a New Delhi based weekly magazine which carried the series of pictures of the July 23 incident of Imphal where Chongtham Sanjit and Th. Rabina were killed and had proved to be a fake encounter. The other two were Babulal Saini, and Kaluram Saini of Sana Pukei Restaurant, B.T Road. Both are sons of (L) Ramlal Saini.
It is worth noting that Teressa Rehman and Soma Choudhury were being summoned to appear before the Commission on Wednesday. However, the two journalists did not turn up reportedly owing to the security reasons.
The statement of Judge Agarwal Commission of Inquiry stated that a letter had been received from Tarun J. Tejpal, editor, Tehelka informing that the two journalists of the Delhi based magazine were ready to cooperate with the Commission. However, they ‘apprehend/ arrest/ harassment’ by the police. It also indicated that the expenses for the two witnesses for their travel were to be tendered in advance.
However, it was assured in the statement of the Inquiry Commission that necessary protection would be provided to the two journalists of Tehelka magazine and there was no question of their arrest for their attendance before the Commission. It also informed that the expenses for their travel, boarding and lodging would be paid by the Inquiry Commission to the witnesses on their appearance. The two witnesses were also asked to bring two copies of the journal and photographs published in the Tehelka magazine and therefore produce before the Commission in the statement issued by the Judge Justice Agarwal Commission of Inquiry.
http://www.morungexpress.com/regional/39800.html
The police posse searched the house to find out evidences of prostituition. The neighbours had thought poor Thadiyan, his co-Jehadi and the ladies were all part of a prostituition racket 
. The Hosur police might have marched in, with their lathis and perhaps a few Women PCs to pick up the prostitutes 
My post about those Sindhi folks was just an FYI to add to Ramana's...