Dumariya (Bihar):
A Maoist leader has said that the rebel group is ready to face the police forces in Bihar and in other parts of the country. "The forces which are being brought
in to suppress villagers like Cobra (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) battalion
and other specialised forces we are ready to face them...we have formed PLGA (People's
Liberation Guerrilla Army) and we have deployed it to face security forces," Amarjit,
a Maoist leader told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting. Earlier on Tuesday,
the rebels held a meeting in the dense forest region. They burnt effigies of Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram. Bihar is one of the six Indian states badly affected by Maoist rebellion. The banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) had given a call for two-day shutdown on Monday (October 12) in Bihar and Jharkhand state. Suspected rebels also blew up railway tracks and towers of mobile phone companies during shutdown. Maoists
have ignored repeated calls to renounce violence and negotiate across the table.
So much so, they have stepped up their attacks in recent past months, prompting
the government to go after them in a concerted strike. The timing of the government
offensive is not yet known but is expected to be executed later this month. Apart
from addressing a massive security issue, the government has plans to free mineral-rich
areas worth billion of dollars now under the control of rebels. India is battling
Maoists across eastern, central and southern India, an insurgency that Indian
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described as the biggest internal security challenge
since independence. Maoists have formally been labelled as a terrorist group by
India's federal government, which gives security forces more enforcement powers.
However, some experts say the ban has not had much impact so far in the battle
against thousands of Maoists.
