I/III.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/514526.aspx
First Published: 23:02 IST(2/3/2010)
Last Updated: 23:05 IST(2/3/2010)
Chidambaram says Maoist truce offer bizarre
Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday said the Maoist guerrillas' truce
offer was "somewhat bizarre" because the Leftist insurgents continued to
indulge in violence hours after offering the ceasefire.
"I just described the so-called offer of the CPI-Maoist as bizarre. That is
because, barely three hours after the so-called offer, the CPI-Maoist
attacked a joint patrol party of the West Bengal police and the CRPF in
Lalgarh," Chidambaram told reporters about Maoist guerrilla leader
Kishenji's ceasefire offer for 72 days.
Kishenji, a politburo member of the outlawed Communist Party of India
(CPI)-Maoist, last Monday asked the state and central governments to stop
anti-insurgency operations from Feb 25 to May 7 and "concentrate on
development of tribal areas which will be reciprocated by Maoists".
The government rejected the offer, and instead the home minister asked the
guerrilla leader to abjure violence and come for talks "without ifs and
buts".
Presenting the monthly report of his ministry before the media, the home
minister recalled three people were killed in that shootout.
"In the seven days since then (the offer), there have been 18 significant
acts of violence in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal.
These include landmine blasts, killing of civilians alleged to be police
informers, attack on police parties, ambushing of trucks and other
vehicles, and blasting of school buildings. I may point out that 11 lives
have been lost," he said.
The home minister said he had earlier offered to facilitate talks with the
banned CPI-Maoist provided the insurgents abjured violence.
"There was no meaningful response to that offer. Nevertheless, Feb 23 (a
day after Kishenji's offer), I responded that if the CPI-Maoist made a
short, simple and unconditional statement that they would abjure violence,
the government would be prepared to hold talks with them. I have received
no response to my statement," Chidambaram said.
While Chidambaram gave a fax number for the Maoists to issue their "short,
simple" statement abjuring violence, Kishenji gave through a media
conference a cell number on which he wanted the government to contact him
with details of when and where to hold the talks. The half-hearted
initiative collapsed.
II.
http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/getpage.aspx?articles=yes&pageid=17&max=true&articleid=Ar01701§id=11edid=&edlabel=TOIM&mydateHid=04-03-2010&pubname=Times+of+India+-+Mumbai+-+Times+Nation&title=Red+top+gun%e2%80%99s+arrest+may+facilitate+talks&edname=&publabel=TOI
Red top guns arrest may facilitate talks
Was Deepak In Kolkata To Finalise Truce
Caesar Mandal | TNN
Kolkata: Maoist military strategist Telugu Deepak alias Venkateswar Reddy
was a nightmare for the security forces in three statesWest
Bengal,Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh.But his skills as the guerrillas
political envoy can now play a crucial role in the expected truce
process,say sources.
Intelligence officers say his arrest will be major blow to the outfit in
Bengal and Jharkhand.He may be a more significant catch than Kishanji, said
an officer.Whats even more important,they say,is that it may lead the
Maoists to the talks table.Deepak had probably arrived in the city to
finalize a deal on the truce proposals recently offered by Kishanji.
In the Maoist hierarchy,he was the chairman of the Bengal military
commission,responsible for all armed operations,procuring arms and funds
and recruiting cadres.A day after Deepaks arrest,Kishanjis tone wasquite
unexpectedlynot in a high pitch against the government.We want the
unconditional release of Deepak and other arrested Maoists, Kishanji said
on Wednesday.When asked if it was a prerequisite for the talks,he
replied,No,we are not setting any conditions.
Within hours of our truce offer,security forces killed Lal Mohan Tudu,which
proves that the government is not interested in initiating the peace
process.Even after that,we kept our offer open, he said.
There was no warning reflected in his voice.Rather,his statement hints that
Maoists are eager to go for a truce.
A day after home minister P Chidamabaram termed Kishanjis truce offer as
bizarre,the government said Kishanjis offer for talks may be considered if
he could ensure complete ceasefire for 72 hours.
Meanwhile,a Kolkata court sent rebel leader Deepak to 14 days police
custody.
III.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/cops-get-kishenjis-deputy-in-17hr-busstop-stakeout/586600/
Cops get Kishenji's deputy in 17-hr bus-stop stakeout
Sreenivas Janyala Posted online: Thursday , Mar 04, 2010 at 0229 hrs
Kolkata : Venkateshwara Reddy, alias Telugu Dipak, Kishenji's deputy,
working undercover for over 15 years in West Bengal as an explosives expert
and chief of the Maoists' armed wing, was arrested last night after a
17-hour stake-out at a bus-stop in Behala in Kolkata's southern outskirts.
Sources confirmed to The Indian Express that police were “tipped off” that
Dipak “would be seen carrying a red and silver polythene bag and an English
leisure magazine.”
With this information — and an old photograph of his — several officers of
the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID), in plainclothes, threw a
ring around the bus-stop in Sarsuna at 4 am on Tuesday posing as tea-shop
customers, passers-by and locals.
“This is one of the biggest catches in West Bengal. It was a tough and
unexpected call for us. We had information that a senior Maoist leader was
to come at the bus-stand to meet a courier sent by another Maoist leader.
We did not even know what time he would come. So our men waited since 4
am,” said Raj Kanojia, ADG CID. Dipak used no cellphones and did not carry
any firearm.
“Around 8 pm, we spotted Dipak carrying the polybag and the magazine. When
the courier did not arrive, he got restless. We then apprehended him,” said
a senior officer. Dipak tried to escape, even hit one of the officers,
police said.
Kishenji today said the Maoists were ready for talks with the Centre if it
“unconditionally” freed all arrested Maoists, including Dipak. Officials
said that Dipak's arrest and Kishenji's reaction are pointers to what they
think are rumblings in the Maoist ranks against Kishenji's offer of talks
with the Centre.
Police said they recovered Rs 53,000 and “Maoist literature, an audio
cassette, clothes, a toothbrush and shaving kit” from Dipak who, they
believe was “planning to shift base.”
From a polytechnic graduate to an explosives expert, Dipak's journey to
West Bengal began from a small house in Guntur town.
A diploma student in mechanical engineering at the Government College in
Guntur, Dipak was 17 when he got involved with the Radical Students Union,
the student wing of the former People's War Group (PWG). A state
intelligence official says that because of his “extreme revolutionary
ideas,” he rapidly rose in the RSU to become General Secretary of the
Andhra Pradesh RSU.
Covertly, PWG leaders were also grooming him for “a bigger role away from
home.”
By 1992, when he was 30, Dipak had 10 cases of attempt to murder, arson and
intimidation against him and had already gone underground. It was then that
the PWG asked him to go to West Bengal to join Maoist cadres.
He first went to Jharkhand where he met a fellow Maoist from Andhra, who
was quickly rising in the Maoist hierarchy — Mallojula Koteshwara Rao alias
Kishenji. Under Kishenji's tutelage, Dipak is learnt to have studied Maoist
operations in Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. After a few months, he
moved to West Bengal.
“His whereabouts till 2000 are not known but during this time he turned
into a deadly expert at explosives, landmine traps, hit-and-run warfare,
ambushes, and planning military-precision strikes on police and government
officers,” says an intelligence official.
Dipak was also asked to train hundreds of Maoist cadres. In fact, his
training and survival courses are part of a handbook for Maoist cadres
launching ambushes on police convoys and strikes on police stations to grab
weapons, sources said. He is also learnt to have trained several tribal
youths in and around Lalgarh and Nandigram.
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