Author: Sunando Sarkar
Publication: The Telegraph
Date: June 10, 2003
URL: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1030610/asp/bengal/story_2053876.asp
The Andhra Pradesh unit of the People's
War Group has established a direct link with procurers who bring in arms
from Bangladesh-based ISI agents via the riverine Sunderbans route.
This marks a well-defined change
in the hitherto-known and tenuous relationship between the extreme Left
organisation's Andhra unit and the ISI agents operating from the south
Bengal delta, said officials here. The deals between the Naxalite outfit
and the arms agents used to be through middlemen in the past, they added.
Another aspect of the recent liaison
between the Andhra-based guerillas and the ISI's arms-disposing wing is
the "complete absence" of any involvement of the People's War unit of Bengal,
said intelligence officials.
Those in the organisation corroborated
this version. "We were kept in the dark about any such operation," a source
from the organisation admitted, though he gave a different explanation
for the "lack of co-ordination".
Two arms consignments have found
their way to Andhra in the past two months, according to reports available
here. Taking advantage of the links (both road and rail) between East Midnapore
and Orissa, which border each other, the consignments travelled from the
Contai sub-division to Koraput in Orissa before reaching Dandakaranya -
the self-styled "liberated" region of the Naxalites. From there, the cache
moved to Adilabad in Andhra.
A rail-head - with a direct link
to places in Orissa - exists near the off-loading point (in East Midnapore's
Khejuri block) for the arms from Bangladesh and that helps the rebels "immensely",
said officials. The road-route to Orissa, too, bisects Contai and, after
that, transport is not a problem.
Besides the change in the nature
of the ISI-Naxalite links, the nature of arms being shipped has changed
as well. Officials here said the Andhra outfit, which till very recently
depended a lot on looting police stations for procuring rifles, has now
turned its focus on hand-launched weapons that can target vehicles.
The basic nature of the transaction,
however, has not changed. Money still changes hands and the deal is "essentially
financial" in nature, said officials. "It's not yet a cash- less transaction
to help the Naxalites," one of them said.
But the lack of involvement of the
People's War unit of the state is the only "silver lining" for intelligence
agencies here.
Though People's War sources attributed
the lack of involvement to a "difference in goals" (the Andhra unit has
fewer qualms about targeting the establishment, they said), officials feel
the "real reason" is something different.
"The People's War unit here has
lost all credibility in the eyes of the units elsewhere," a home department
official explained. People's War cadre here have, from time to time, shifted
loyalties to other Naxalite units like the CPI(M-L) Liberation, which is
perceived to share a cordial relationship with the CPM.
Some have even served time in mainstream
political parties like the Trinamul Congress and the BJP and even Left
Front constituents like the RSP, said officials, explaining why the Andhra
rebels do not share "super-sensitive" information with the People's War
here.
