Government diverts forces from northeast to tackle Maoists

AGARTALA - The union home ministry is in the process of withdrawing several battalions of central paramilitary forces from the northeast to deploy them in Maoist-affected areas of the country, a top police official said here Friday.

“Six battalions of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) are moving from Assam, Manipur and Tripura to Maoist concentrated areas,” Tripura Director General of Police Pranay Sahaya told IANS.

Among the central paramilitary forces, many battalions of Assam Rifles, Border Security Forces (BSF) and the CRPF have been deployed in the insurgency-hit northeastern states. In some areas of Manipur and Assam, the army is also posted to deal with terrorists.

“Dealing with Left-wing extremists or the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) is the top priority for the union government,” Sahaya said, explaining the reason behind forces being requisitioned from the northeast.

The Tripura police chief also elaborated on the security arrangements for the May 3 elections to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC).

Sahaya said the state government had sought 50 companies of central paramilitary forces to hold the polls in a free and peaceful manner. However, the central government has provided only 12 companies, he said.

“Besides mobilising over 15,000 paramilitary and state security forces, three helicopters would be pressed into service to deal with any situation during the elections. Though terrorism has been tamed to a large extent, we are not ruling out any subversive activities during the polls by militants,” he added.

Night curfew has been clamped in some sensitive areas while over 3,000 people have been detained as precautionary measures ahead of the polls, he said.

Asked about media reports of Maoists trying to set up bases in the northeast, the Tripura police chief said: “Through the sharing of intelligence inputs among the northeastern states, there is no confirmation so far in this regard.”

But a top intelligence official told IANS on condition of anonymity: “The Maoists are trying to send their agents to penetrate a base among the non-domicile workers currently working in the northeastern states. However, we are closely watching these attempts, if any.”