Click to play videoBhubaneshwar: There has been an immense setback to Maoists in Orissa, claimed the state government.
Only 38 cases of Maoist violence have been registered this year as compared to 130 last year.
A team of Maoist sympathizers and interlocutors met with Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday, a day after 9 policemen were ambushed by Maoists close to the Orissa border. They were there to remind the Orissa government of the 14 promises they made but did not fulfill, to secure the release of then kidnapped Malkangri collector RV Krishna.
The mediators have now set June-end as the new deadline for the demands to be met. The Chief Minister, for his part, gave assurances that he will release 168 tribals involved in minor cases.
"It has been a policy in our government to withdraw minor cases against the tribals and we will do that again. But I have made it very clear that there have been several violent incidents in past three months and the Maoists should stop that immediately," said Naveen Patnaik.
Naveen Patnaik's new-found confidence, many believe, came from the winning edge against Maoists, that security forces in Orissa have delivered in the past year after the launch of the controversial Operation Green Hunt.
According to the police, in the last 5 months security forces have killed 21 suspected Maoists compared to 20 killed between 2006 and 2009. 38 cases of Maoist violence have been registered this year compared to 130 in 2010. Three policemen and eight civilians have been killed this year, compared to 22 security men and 55 civilians in 2010.
The mediators on behalf of the Maoists have now appealed for peace.
Interlocutor Professor Hargopal said, "We are appealing to both the parties for peace so that the problems of the tribals can be addressed. This peace process has happened in Andhra Pradesh in the past and it can happen here, provided the state government tones down its aggression the Maoists."
The Maoist unit in Orissa has been weakened in the past few months with its top leadership in disarray. Last week, the organising committee member of its extremist wing Kesava Rao alias Azad surrendered to the police DG. Azad was named in the killing of VHP leader Swami Laxmananda Saraswati that triggered the Kandhamal riots in 2008.
Now the Orissa police is desperate to hunt down the organizing committee secretary of the unit Sabyasachi Panda who seems to be the only top leader left in the region. But the big question is whether the arrest, surrender or death of Sabyasachi Panda will bring an end to the Maoist extremism in Orissa. Very few believe so.
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