Suspected Maoists force Orissa youth to join their cause

Malkangiri (Orissa), May 12 (ANI): With the aim of building a strong youth brigade, suspected Maoists are now threatening the unemployed youth in Orissa's Malkangiri District and forcing them to join their group.

The lack of employment and deprivation had made them a soft target for the rebels.

"The young people in our village don't have any work, they are all unemployed. We don't even have land to cultivate. We all are educated but are still unemployed. That is why the young people here join their (Maoists) gang," said Daitari Sisa, a local.

He added that the Maoists also misbehave with the women of the village, if they refuse to obey their orders.

"They always threaten us; they force us to join their group and if we don't, they threaten to kill us. These Maoists live behind this hill. We are facing a lot of problems due to them," said Palla, a local.

Thousands have been killed during the Maoist insurgency, which began in the late 1960s, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has described the Maoist threat one of the gravest homegrown threats to India's internal security.

The rebels claim they are fighting for the rights of poor farmers and landless labourers.

They have spread into the rural pockets of 20 of India's 28 states. (ANI)