The Red camp in Odisha looks to be on mission salvage as desertions from Red camp after touching two consecutive tons dropped down to around 73 in 2015. The surrenders also count lower in first two months of 2016.
Even, Maoist incidents in the State have posted a rise in the first two months of this year when intelligence inputs indicate large scale infiltration of hardcore cadres from neighbouring Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand into adjoining forests to supplant depleting cadre strength in Odisha.
In comparison to 14 naxal incidents and four ensuing deaths during the first two months of last year, the total left-wing violent incidents unleashed by the Reds have touched 24 with 7 killings during the same period in 2016.
In just two months, ultras made five economic installations their target against nine in the whole of 2014.
Above all, the fact that surrenders by naxals before police last year have recorded a fall someway hints at recouping by left-wing ultras, who only earlier last year had vowed to stem the desertion tide with a new strategy. later, some precision killings of former surrendered comrades happened, observed security experts.
This year during the first two months, a total of 10 surrenders have been recorded against an average of 10 surrenders per month in the same period in 2015.
However, to the credit
of State police and security forces, they were able to
put a brake on kidnappings by the ultras as they restricted such incidents to around 14 from around 21 each in 2013 and 2014. This year till February left-wing ultras executed three such kidnappings with one resultant killing.
“left ultras execute such kidnappings mainly to extort financial resources to fund their operations, and at times kill some to drive home a terror lesson among the potential targets. Though around 42 such kidnappings were executed in 2013 and 2014, they killed around 24 persons and released others,” explained a senior CRPF official engaged in anti-Maoist operations.
He also revealed that following more casualties in Chhattisgarh from November to February, many ultras were crossing over to Odisha.
In Odisha, civilians killed by Maoists were higher than the casualties borne on the naxals side; whereas it is the vice-versa in two predominant Maoist-hit States – Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. The sway of Maoists is quite evident in Koraput, Rayagada and Malkangiri as the districts counted all the civilian casualties the State incurred this year.
Maoists’ biggest execution strategy against security forces is landmine detonation, but the steep fall in landmines explosions in the last three years indicate at some success in area domination by police and security forces in the worst Maoist-hit areas. However, Odisha has witnessed two landmine explosions in the first three months of 2016.
“As such, blast incidents have risen in 2015 and in the first three months of 2016 in Chhattisgarh, but Odisha too could witness more such attacks in future,” observed the CRPF official.
