jul 26th, 2008
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ven
The Maoist threat: lies, white lies and statistics
http://www.kalingatimes.com/views/news_20080327-maoist.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By P.V. Ramana
The Indian home ministry never tires of finding newer classifications
to present(Commentary)
a much diminished perception of the intensity and spread of the
Communist Party of India-Maoist, better known as Naxalites.
Based on information provided by his officials, Home Minister Shivraj
Patil told the Rajya Sabha March 19 that "a mere 14,000 villages out
of a total of 650,000 villages are Maoist-affected, which accounts for
just two percent of the total number of villages in the country".
It is intriguing why mention was not made of the number of towns that
are Maoist affected, and their percentage. The omission was perhaps
made because no violent activities were reported from towns and
cities. Nevertheless, it is by now well known that the rebels use
towns and cities for rest, recreation and recuperation as well as for
logistics support.
It is an altogether different issue that the Maoists have a certain
'urban presence', and have devised an action plan to build a strong
and vibrant 'urban movement'. In 2007 alone, three top-ranking leaders
of the all-powerful Central Committee and the Central Military
Commission (CMC) were caught in towns/cities: Malla Raji Reddy in
Kerala, Sridhar Krishnan Srinivasan alias Vishnu in Mumbai and Misir
Besra alias Bhaskar alias Sunirmal in Jharkhand.
... deleted
(P.V. Ramana is Research Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies
and Analyses, New Delhi . He is author of "The Naxal Challenge -
Causes, Linkages and Policy Options" and can be contacted at
talepuramana@gmail.com)
From: ven
The Maoist threat: lies, white lies and statistics
http://www.kalingatimes.com/views/news_20080327-maoist.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By P.V. Ramana
The Indian home ministry never tires of finding newer classifications
to present(Commentary)
a much diminished perception of the intensity and spread of the
Communist Party of India-Maoist, better known as Naxalites.
Based on information provided by his officials, Home Minister Shivraj
Patil told the Rajya Sabha March 19 that "a mere 14,000 villages out
of a total of 650,000 villages are Maoist-affected, which accounts for
just two percent of the total number of villages in the country".
It is intriguing why mention was not made of the number of towns that
are Maoist affected, and their percentage. The omission was perhaps
made because no violent activities were reported from towns and
cities. Nevertheless, it is by now well known that the rebels use
towns and cities for rest, recreation and recuperation as well as for
logistics support.
It is an altogether different issue that the Maoists have a certain
'urban presence', and have devised an action plan to build a strong
and vibrant 'urban movement'. In 2007 alone, three top-ranking leaders
of the all-powerful Central Committee and the Central Military
Commission (CMC) were caught in towns/cities: Malla Raji Reddy in
Kerala, Sridhar Krishnan Srinivasan alias Vishnu in Mumbai and Misir
Besra alias Bhaskar alias Sunirmal in Jharkhand.
... deleted
(P.V. Ramana is Research Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies
and Analyses, New Delhi . He is author of "The Naxal Challenge -
Causes, Linkages and Policy Options" and can be contacted at
talepuramana@gmail.com)
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