Maoists Getting Aid From Northeast Outfits

By R Dutta Choudhury

Guwahati, Feb 24 : The change in the pattern of violence and frequent use of sophisticated weapons by the Maoist rebel groups and their growing ties with the militant groups of Northeast forced the security forces to believe that the Maoists must have been receiving weapons from the Northeast militants.

Highly placed security sources said that there have been growing efforts by the Maoist groups to establish their foothold in the Northeast region and their links with several militant groups of the region have already been established.

Sources said that though there was no concrete evidence of the militant groups of Northeast providing sophisticated weapons to the Maoist rebel groups, circumstantial evidence indicated this trend. Sources pointed out that at one point of time, the Maoist groups used only old fashioned weapons, but in recent times, they have started using sophisticated weapons, including AK series rifles. The recent attacks by the Maoist groups indicated that they now have a good number of sophisticated weapons.

Sources pointed out that on the other hand, most of the militant groups of Northeast possessed a good number of sophisticated weapons and they were also receiving weapons phased out by the Chinese Army as part of its modernization programme, from the clandestine arms dealers.

There are militant outfits in the Northeast, which have more weapons than the number of cadres, while, the groups like the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) have changed their pattern of violence and in last few years, such groups are using more explosives than weapons.

That is why, the militant groups of the Northeast now have unused weapons and there is every possibility of such groups siphoning off weapons to the Maoist groups, which do not have any shortage of cadres to use the same and they are frequently using weapons rather than explosives to target the security forces, sources added.

Meanwhile, commenting on the efforts by the Maoist groups to establish a foothold in the region, sources said that so far, such groups are not very active in the region. “About a couple of years back, some Maoist groups established small units in lower Assam but these units are still not very active.

However, according to reports available, the Maoist groups have identified their target groups including farmers, agriculture laborers including tea garden laborers to establish their roots,” sources said.

Sources said that recent attempts by the Maoist groups to strengthen links with the ULFA came to the fore, while, it is reported that the Maoists have ties with the NSCN (I-M).

Sources said that the Maoists held a meeting with the Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF) of Manipur in Myanmar and according to records available with the security forces, both sides also adopted a resolution to “work together in the struggle to overthrow the Indian Government.”