Security forces move in to douse Lalgarh flame

After four days of inaction, the state police have started its operation against the Naxalites in Lalgarh. So far the police had met with little resistance. Only at one point they were fired upon from behind the forest cover, but nobody was injured.

But fearing the approach roads could have been mined by the Naxalites, the police were approaching cautiously. In this operation the state police are being actively supported by the five companies of central force.

Around 150 state riot police armed with lathi and shield moved forward into the area and two companies of BSF armed with anti mine device and sophisticated weapons provided them cover. At about 11 am they started slowly approaching towards Lalgarh from district headquarters. At Pirakata, some 20 kilometers away from Lalgarh, they met with first resistance. The Naxalites were nowhere to be seen but a few hundred villagers, assembled under the banner of People’s Committee Against Police

Atrocities, tried to block their way. They had already dug up roads and felled trees to block any vehicle movement. The police first appealed to them over loudspeaker, but when they did not oblige, the police resorted to lathi charge and fired tear gas to disperse them. A few people were arrested there. Around 500 state armed police and 5 companies of central force have been deployed in this operation. The police have initiated a two prong attack on the Naxalites, one force is approaching from Pirakata, another has taken position near Ramgarh, and both are trying to converge towards Lalgarh. By 6 pm they reached Bhimpur, still 14 km away from Lalgarh.

According to sources close to police forces, the central force were keen to move forward another two kilometers to reach a camp spend the night there.

But the state police were reluctant to move in the evening fearing ambush by the Naxalites. According to Kuldip Singh, IG (Western Range), they had sought permission from Kolkata to make a halt there for the night. If they decide finally to camp at Bhimpur, a small place with no electricity connection, then they would have to made use of some local school building as their camp. In Kolkata, the entire operation is being overseen by Bhupinder Singh, DG (Coordination). Senior police officers are manning the IG (Control Room) throughout the day at Writers Buildings, the administrative headquarters of the state.

Meanwhile, Kishanji, a politburo member and self styled head of the military commission of the Naxalites, had mocked at the police operation and boasted that the five companies of central forces would be inadequate for this operation.

He claimed that the poor villagers would successfully resist the state government’s police operation. But, Chhatradhar Mahato, leader of the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities, sounded a bit pessimistic. The bravado was missing in his tone; he just said that they would try to put up some resistance to the police forces. Earlier, before leaving for Delhi to attend his scheduled meeting with the Prime Minister and to take part in his party’s politburo meeting, the chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee held a meeting with the home department officials and senior police officials this morning. Later a statement has been issued from the chief minister’s office, appealing to the people of Lalgarh not to offer themselves as human shield against the police forces.

The statement has been printed in both Bengali and Santhal (Alchiki) languages purported to be distributed in the area. But, there is little possibility of distributing this leaflet among the members of the Peoples’ Committee Against Police Atrocities before the police force took control of Lalgarh.