Maoist team bbed in Barak raid

Tribal youth were targeted for indoctrition in Cachar tea belts

Special Correspondent

Silchar, August 20: Six Maoists, who had been involved in indoctriting people in the tribal-domited areas of Barak valley for the last two years, were today arrested by security forces.

The group was led by one Nirmala Biswas (50), who hails from Kalipur village in dia district of West Bengal. The other arrested Maoists are - Amir Uddin (45) alias Ra of South Salmara police station in Dhubri district, Sidhu Orang (22) of Balacherra, Bijoy Orang (20), Bipon Orang (25) and Biphul Orang (36) of Jalalpore tea estate. They were bbed in a joint operation by 27 Assam Rifles, 147 Bn CRPF and Assam Police from the tribal domited area of Mempunji under Jalalpur tea estate.

It was learnt that a group of six Maoists were holding a meeting in the house of one Hira Orang with young people, mostly tribals, and indoctriting them as well as motivating them to join the movement. Amir Uddin and Nirmala Biswas also admitted that they have been associated not only with Maoism but with other hardcore organizations as well. Actively involved with Maoism for the last nine years, they have visited several places and held meetings at potential pockets in Barak Valley.

The Maoist group had particularly targeted under-developed areas where the general perception among inhabitants is that they had been denied the benefits of Centrally sponsored schemes and projects, aimed at improving their socio-economic condition.

 The focus of this group lately had been in and around the areas of Balacherra, Udharbond, Jalalpur and Borkhola of Cachar district. They have targeted youths mostly unemployed and disillusioned with the present state of political affairs. Being victims of social disparity and discrimition, these youths are easily lured into Maoist ideology which preaches armed struggle to achieve the goal of liberty, freedom and emancipation from the existing system of governce.

 After their arrests, all the six Maoists were handed over to Assam Police for further interrogation and necessary legal action. Hira Orang is being interrogated by Central and State intelligence agencies separately and the police is yet to categorize him as a Maoist.

It is to be recalled that there have been several instances of Maoists being bbed from different parts of Cachar, mostly the tea belts.

Former All Cachar-Karimganj-Hailakandi Students' Association president Pradip Dutta Roy, who had been cautioning against the spread of Maoism in Barak Valley and its grave implications, said the hardcore faction of Ulfa militants led by Paresh Barua, which is now camping in the jungles of Myanmar, is trying to spread its tentacles in this valley also through the Mizoram-Manipur corridor. Their nexus with Maoists, he pointed out, is well known and a fact admitted by the Union Home Ministry.

According to Roy, after the death of Kishenji, Maoists from Midpore and Jangalmahal have taken refuge in this valley. "In at least 20 tea gardens, their presence can be felt," he said, not ruling out the possibility of some intellectuals and university students with their extreme Left leanings being in league with the disruptive and divisive elements.

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