Shillong, June 5 (IANS) Home Secretary G.K. Pillai said Saturday there was evidence of Maoists establishing links with insurgents in the northeastern region.
‘We have evidence that the Maoists have come to the northeast and tried to establish links with the insurgent groups in the region,’ Pillai said.
Thuingaleng Muivah, leader of the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM), has admitted that the Maoists had approached him. Intelligence sources said that powerful Naga separatist group helped the Maoists in arms-smuggling through Myanmar and Bangladesh.
The Maoists also established links with the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the Manipur-based People’s Liberation Army militant outfit.
Asked why the army is not deployed to tackle the growing Maoist menace, Pillai said: ‘We are trying to reclaim all those areas where there is a vacuum in governance rather than deploying the army and we are slowly winning back the confidence of tribal people in those areas.’
He said that the government has been successful in reclaiming these villages from Maoist dominance and ‘development works are slowly picking up in Kanker and Bastar areas of Chhattisgarh’.
‘This is a small achievement I know, but the beginning has been great as far as a long-term solution to tackling Maoist insurgency and winning back the confidence of tribal people goes,’ the home secretary said.
