Maoists celebrate their anniversary

Raipur, Sep 20 - The Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), an outfit of Maoist insurgents with terror bases in at least 13 Indian states, has asked people in its stronghold of Chhattisgarh's Bastar region to celebrate the party's foundation anniversary on Friday, a senior police officer said.'The outfit has pasted banners and posters in the interiors of Bastar region's Kanker and Narayanpur districts, asking people to celebrate the foundation anniversary on Sep 21, Friday,' Pawan Dev, Kanker Range deputy inspector general of police, told IANS.The CPI-Maoist was founded on Sep 21, 2004, with the merger of the Peoples' War Group (PWG) and Maoist Communist Centre (MCC). The group runs parallel governments in certain interior forested parts of mineral-rich Bastar, which is spread across about 40,000 sq km in southern Chhattisgarh, bordering Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.

'Patrolling has been intensified and forces put on high alert after we recovered banners and posters of CPI-Maoist asking people to join in their foundation day anniversary celebrations,' Dev said, adding 'the rebels have not called for a strike Friday, but they might hold functions such as meetings and can target government installations.'A source in the state home department said: 'Thousands of paramilitary troops of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and State Armed Forces (SAF) have been relocated to government facilities and strategic locations in Bastar, including the National Mineral Development Corporation's (NMDC) iron ore mining facilities at Bailadila hills in Dantewada district to counter Maoists' attacks during Friday's celebrations.

'In March this year, Maoist rebels massacred 55 policemen in Bijapur district in one of the worst ever attacks carried out on security forces since Maoists' armed struggle began in India in 1967 from a remote village in West Bengal.The police estimate that about 5,000 Maoists armed with AK-47 rifles, rocket launchers, mortars and landmines are active in Bastar region, backed by about 20,000 cadres who carry self-loading rifles and traditional weapons like bows and arrows and sharp-edged weapons.The Bijapur, Dantewada, Bastar, Narayanpur and Kanker districts of Bastar have been Maoists' terror nerve centres for decades.

Tension in the region has escalated since June 2005 when locals launched the Salwa Judum civil movement against Maoists that has forced over 50,000 people to desert their villages and live in government-run relief camps.

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