Odisha Police go hi-tech, Maoists back to old tricks
MALKANGIRI: The ongoing battle between Maoists and security forces has taken a new turn with both sides adopting new strategies to beat each other.
While police are being equipped with modern technologies by the Centre and States to track and encounter the Maoists, the rebels have reverted to the traditional methods to browbeat and ambush the police.
With the Border Security Force and State agencies breathing down their neck through intensified combing operations, the Left Wing Extremists (LWEs) are struggling hard to regain the confidence of tribals in remote and inaccessible pockets across the district which was once their hotbed not long back. Besides the eroding support base, the Maoists face shortage of arms and ammunition.
According to sources, the Maoists facing cadre crisis since long have managed to recruit some tribal youths from the cut-off regions of Kalimela, Podia, Mathili and Khairput blocks. The rebels have started imparting armed training to them in deep forests along Odisha-Andhra Pradesh-Chhattisgarh border.
The newly inducted youths are being encouraged to use their traditional weapons to take on the police. As per their changed strategy, the rebels have reportedly renamed PLGA as People’s Liberation Tribal Guerilla Army (PLTGA).
Moreover, realising that mobile phones are turning out to be their Achilles’ heel, the Red rebels have resorted to the old method of communication - letters written in code words.
The move has put the police in a fix as they are now finding it difficult to access the movement of the rebels and decode the words.
A top police officer engaged in anti-Maoist operation, on condition of anonymity, said the Maoists are in continuous process of evolving their tactics and each time, come up with surprise moves.
“It is really difficult to understand their tactics and by the time we get any clue, they develop a new method,” he said.
There are some Maoist movements in the interior areas but those are not strong. In fact, they are more into rebuilding their organisation than countering the State forces, another police officer said.