Maoists trying to instigate police cadre to revolt

Nagpur, June 10 (UNI) Faced with a shortage of cadre and difficulty in making new recruitments, Naxalite organisations have focussed their attention on the police force and are making an attempt to instigate a revolt among the men in uniform.

Pamphlets calling upon the men in the police department and para-military forces to take up arms against the very system for which they work have been found in parts of the Naxalite-infested areas in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.

This is probably the first time that the Maoists are directly trying to provoke the sentiments of the police and para-military forces. The outlaws normally treat the law enforcement agencies as their prime enemy and make them a target of their violent activities.

Officials say the focus on the police force could be a strategy of the Maoists in view of dwindling cadre and poor response to recruitment drives.

The police had to compromise with their conscience to use arms against their own brethren, and were also living a life full of tension and uncertainty, with no guarantee of their jobs, the pamphlets alleged.

Asserting that the party had full sympathy for the men in uniform, the pamphlets called upon them to take up arms against the system that exploited them and had ''made their lives miserable and filled it with depression, tension and problems.'' Commenting on the content of the pamphlets, Special Inspector General of Police for Anti-Naxalite Operation (ANO) Pankaj Gupta told UNI that this was clearly an attempt by Maoists to divide the society and to create a rift in it.

''For the naxalites, the police are enemy number one. They are, therefore, trying to instigate and divide the policemen,'' he said.

The ranks of the naxalite cadre had decreased drastically because of the strict action by the law-enforcement agencies, Mr Gupta said.

In addition, the naxalite outfits were getting poor response to their own recruitment drives, and were finding it difficult to maintain the numbers of their cadre, he said.

''It appears that the Maoists have, therefore, adopted a policy of targeting the police and decrease their morale.'' he said.

The pamphlets appeared to have been issued by Maoist organisations since the issues raised in the content and the language used are similar to that of the outlaws, Mr Gupta said.

However, the pamphlets were on plain paper and not on any 'stationery' or letterhead of any naxalite organisation, he pointed out.

Late last year, the police had found pamphlets purportedly distributed by the CPI(maoist) in the district calling upon dalits to take to arms to fight against injustice.

Mr Gupta said this could be a deliberate ploy to attract the youth to the illegal activity since naxal organisations had been finding it difficult to make fresh recruitments into the cadre.

UNI