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Red alert in Andhra
Pradesh
By Sudha Ramachandran
CHENNAI - The abortive assassination attempt on
Chandrababu Naidu, the chief minister of the southern
Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, by the left-extremist
People's War (PW), signals that the PW is not a spent
force - it is able and willing to strike targets of its
choice.
Naidu escaped with a fractured
collarbone when five claymore mines exploded close to
the bulletproof car in which he was traveling. Four
others, including two members of the State Legislative
Assembly, are reported to be in serious condition.
Known for the way he has transformed governance
in Andhra, Naidu has earned himself the sobriquet of
"the CEO of Andhra Inc". He has made Hyderabad, the
state capital, the cyber capital of the country. His
economic policies have won him accolades from the World
Bank, software giants and Andhra's urban elite.
However, Naidu's policies have widened the
urban-rural economic gap and deepened deprivation among
the rural poor. His policies have evoked much anger
among this section. His government has carried out some
of the most brutal crackdowns ever on the PW and its
supporters. Not surprisingly, he has been on the PW's
hit-list for years. Claiming responsibility for the
attack on Naidu, the PW in a statement said that he and
the state police were "enemies of the people" because of
their "anti-people policies" and "deserved to be
eliminated".
Formed in April of 1980, the PW
started its operations in the Telangana region, Andhra's
most backward area. Today, it is active in at least 12
of Andhra's 23 districts. The PW draws inspiration from
Mao's people's war and aims at capturing political power
through a protracted armed struggle based on guerrilla
warfare. It has built up bases in remote areas and set
up "liberated zones". It is said that the PW has set up
"parallel administrations" in over 125 villages. The
PW's influence runs in several other states, including
Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar.
The
PW is said to have around 1,100 fighters and over 5,000
underground activists. It can also draw on the support
of tens of thousands of villagers and several
intellectuals. However, its support is said to be on the
decline. Many were put off by bloody inter-group wars.
Several have expressed their distaste for its increasing
resort to terror tactics and its targeting of innocent
civilians. Its strategy has received much criticism. The
PW attacks multinational corporations, such as the one
on a Coca-Cola unit in late 2001, hit the working class
the most as hundreds lost their jobs.
The PW's
arsenal is said to have grown in sophistication over the
years. In the early years of its existence, knives,
sickles and axes and other household and farm equipment
were the main weapons. Today, its arsenal includes
AK-47s, sten guns and an assortment of explosives and
land mines. P V Ramanna, an expert on the PW, has drawn
attention to reports that the PW is on its way to using
rocket-propelled grenades.
In comparison to
other militant organizations operating in South Asia,
such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the
Hizbul Mujahideen and the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the arsenal
of the PW might seem less sophisticated. This is in part
because the PW lacks the kind of state sponsors that the
Hizbul or the Lashkar have, or the sort of support that
the LTTE can draw on among the Tamil diaspora. It is
said that the contributions of the Tamil diaspora and
the money that flows from its international business
interests (including the narcotics trade) are what
enable the LTTE to buy sophisticated weaponry in the
world's arms bazaars.
The PW has sought to
overcome these shortcomings by cooperating in various
ways with South Asian militant groups. Although the
left-extremist movement is riven with personal rivalries
and differences regarding ideology and tactics, its
various groups have come together to share access to
arms and explosives.
According to reports, the
PW has strong links not only with the Bihar and
Jharkhand-based Maoist Community Center (MCC) and the
Nepalese Maoists, it also has ties with the LTTE, which
go back to the 1980s when the Tigers are said to have
shared with the PW their expertise on improvised
explosive devices. In return, the PW provided the LTTE
with access to RDX from nearby quarries. The PW also
provided sanctuary to Tiger cadres and allowed them to
train in the forests where their writ ran. Despite their
ideological differences - the LTTE is Tamil nationalist,
the PW is left-extremist - the two worked well together.
Their common opposition to the Indian state cemented the
bond. It is said the LTTE/PW still work together, with
the former selling weapons to the PW.
Reports in
the media have indicated possible PW links with
militants operating in Jammu and Kashmir as well. In
September 1999, Lashkar militant Azam Ghouri reportedly
met some PW leaders in the Warangal and Nizamabad
districts of Andhra to discuss, among other things, the
supply of arms and explosives to the PW.
However, it is with other Maoist organizations
worldwide that the PW has the strongest ties. It is said
to have fraternal links with the Liberation Army of Peru
and the Kurdistan Workers' Party. It has attempted to
"internationalize its appeal" by taking part in
international seminars where likeminded outfits
participate.
On July 1, 2001, nine
left-extremist outfits active in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka
and Bangladesh formed an umbrella grouping, the
Coordination Committees of Maoist Parties and
Organizations (CCOMPOSA). The CCOMPOSA includes, among
others, the PW, the MCC and the Nepalese Maoists.
The support CCOMPOSA constituents extend to each
other goes beyond the moral articulated in their
speeches and pamphlets. Nepalese Maoist representatives
are known to have participated in the PW's congresses.
In fact, several Maoist leaders have been provided safe
sanctuaries in MCC and PW hideouts. The formation of
CCOMPOSA has also facilitated the exchange of expertise,
weapons training and flow of weapons. While explosives
stolen from quarries and ordnance factories flow from
the PW's hands to the Nepalese Maoists, guns are said to
move in the reverse direction.
The real
significance of the creation of the CCOMPOSA, say
analysts, lies in the consequent emergence of a "compact
revolutionary zone". Cooperation between Maoist outfits
active in Nepal through Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya
Pradesh up to Andhra has provided the left-extremists
contiguous areas in which to operate, move, hide and
train. In effect, this means access for the PW to
hideouts right up to Nepal.
According to Indian
intelligence officials, Pakistan's Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI), which is said to be active along the
porous India-Nepal border, has tapped into the
left-extremist groups very effectively. Maoism is
unlikely to have adherents in the ISI, but anti-India
sentiment bonds the ISI with left-extremists of the PW.
The bond has been mutually beneficial, say Indian
Intelligence sources, as left-extremists like the MCC
and the PW have received weapons from the ISI, which
they have used against the Indian state.
The
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation might
have failed to surmount differences to engage in
meaningful cooperation. But the region's militant groups
appear to be many miles ahead, having successfully
overcome personal rivalries, ideological differences and
geographical distance to cooperate for mutual benefit.
(Copyright 2003 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All
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