The Kerala Home Department has decided to intensify search in the northern jungles for Maoists in the aftermath of Sunday’s encounter between them and the Thunderbolt, the State police’s commando wing, even as Adivasis in the ‘conflict zone’ are worried about being trapped between Maoists and police.
Deputy Inspector General of Police (Kannur Range), heading the anti-Maoist operations, has reportedly issued instructions to the personnel to intensify the search for the Maoists who had fired upon the police in the Kunjom forest under the Vellamunda police station in Wayanad district. Intense searches would continue in five north Kerala districts.
Alert orders, issued to the police stations in the north Kerala districts, was renewed on Tuesday and the forest areas of five districts — Wayanad, Kannur, Kozhikode, Malappuram and Palakkad — would be put under intense surveillance. Nine police stations have been issued alert notices in Kannur district alone.
Search for Maoists was on Tuesday extended to the forest areas bordering Tamil Nadu in the southern Kerala districts of Idukki and Kollam. Reports from Idukki said that special inspection of vehicles plying between the two states was being carried out. Alert notice for central district of Thrissur had been issued on Monday itself.
At the same time, police officials from Karnataka, which is also facing Maoist menace, visited the State on the basis of the information provided by the Kerala Government on Sunday’s exchange of fire between the extremists and the police. They collected details from the Kerala Police officials supervising the operations against Maoists.
Reports, quoting Adivasis in the Kunjom forest region said, that they were worried about the conversion of their traditional habitat into a conflict zone by the police and suspected Maoists. Some of them even questioned the very authenticity of the police’s claim that there had been an exchange of fire between the Maoists and the Thunderbolt commandos.
The police, however, believe that the Maoists in Kerala were following the same operational methods they have been adopting in other States and therefore the decision of the police is to continue the existing measures in operations. They feel that the Maoists were ready for encounter with the police but the firing incident in Vellamunda was accidental.