29,000 AK-47's procured for Anti-Maoist Operations

AK-47s continue to be the preferred assault weapon for the country's paramilitary forces deployed to neutralise terrorists and Maoists at the frontiers and in the hinterland.

Over 29,000 pieces of this Russian-origin rifle were imported by forces like CRPF, BSF and NSG over the last three years, leaving behind, by a large margin, other sophisticated assault weapons procured from the US and Israel.

The inventory of the assault weapons procured for security forces, including ITBP, CISF and Assam Rifles, during 2010-2013 show that while 29,260 pieces of the 'AK' series were procured, only 17,609 units of other weapons in this category like X-95 and SIG were imported.

While the Central Reserve Police Force, deployed extensively in the country for anti-Naxal operations procured 18,000 AK-47s, the Central Industrial Security Force guarding Indian airports got 7,921 pieces and the Sashastra Seema Bal securing borders along Nepal and Bhutan got 2,719 units.

The Sino-India border guarding force Indo-Tibetan Border Police procured 620 pieces of these 'Avtomat Kalashnikova' (AK) rifles.

"The AK series rifles are still the best in terms of use and adaptability for Indian security forces personnel. Be it any domain of combat operations like anti-Maoist or counter-terror operations, this weapon has delivered good results," a senior security official said.

With the advent of new technology and new dynamics of combat, the country's security establishment has also imported other modern variants of assault rifles.

So while the CRPF got 6,382 pieces of X-95 for its troops in Maoist operations, the elite National Security Guard (NSG) got 675 pieces of the Swiss-make SIG assault rifles.

X-95 

"There have not been many assault weapons that suit the Indian conditions and the forces. Also, the role of the internal security forces is essentially to combat and not assault. So, a specialist counter-terror force like NSG also uses sub-machine guns like MP5 and Glock pistols for fighting from close quarters," a NSG official explained.



The security forces, through the Union Home Ministry, procured the AK-47s from Bulgaria while the X-95s are procured from Israel.

Among the other weapons that these forces procured during the same fiscals are MP-5 guns from Heckler and Koch (Germany), Carbine machine guns (Storm) from Beretta (Italy) and Glock Pistols from Hong Kong and Austria.

Source : http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/over-29-000-ak-47s-procured-for-paramilitary-forces-213293

Related News


CRPF gets Israeli Assault Rifles to combat Maoists 

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/crpf-gets-israeli-made-assault-rifles-to-fight-maoists/1/158962.html

Tribals killed by Special Police Officers in Singram, Chhattisgarh

In Singaram village of Dantewada Chhattisgarh 19 innocent tribal were murdered by State appointed SPO's. The motive behind killings was to clear the land for mining corporations. The Vanvasi Chetna Ashram took the case to Chhattisgarh High Court, but has received no justice so far, instead it's office was bulldozed under CRPF supervision by the Government of Chhattisgarh.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZzhVurwnD0

On 8th January 2009, the Salwa Judum and police gunned down 19 villagers in Chhattisgarh claiming they were Naxals. Here is the villagers account of what happened. Kopa Kunjum, a tribal activist who brought this story to the fore was arrested on false charges of murder later that year.

With English Subtitles



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0inAy1DvxVo

Related Links 

http://kopakunjam.wordpress.com/

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main50.asp?filename=Ws300911Chhattisgarh.asp

Free Soni Sori

Soni Sori is in prison in India because her beliefs have made her a target of the Indian Authorities. Amnesty International is asking you to help to get her released

http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/india-release-soni-sori-international-women-s-day-2012-03-07

http://freesonisoriandlingaram.wordpress.com/

Soni Sori interview with Himanshu Kumar 

Soni Sori saved lives of CRPF and tribals  in her area.She is in Jail now. She was brutally tortured by Police officers in Police Station. Stones were showed in her vagina and rectum by police.She is very ill in Raipur jail.

    

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWMopq-uEpc

CPI Maoist declares Bharat Bandh to protest Obama's visit

Maoists today called for a 24-hour nationwide shutdown on November 8 to protest against the visit of U.S. President Barack Obama.

“The Maoist Central Committee will observe a 24-hour Bharat bandh on November 8,” Maoist Central Committee member Kishenji told PTI over the phone from an undisclosed location.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were out to sell the country to American imperialism and Mr Obama’s visit to the country was just another step in the process, Kishenji alleged.

Interview with E N Rammohan on the CRPF and the CPI(Maoist)

‘I do not believe the Maoists are exploiters’

Distinguished IPS officer E N Rammohan, a former BSF director general who was especially called by the Centre to look into the massacre of 75 CRPF personnel in Dantewada on April 6 this year, is a deeply perturbed man. To him, the unfolding labyrinth of Maoist insurgency is being tackled in an utterly unprofessional manner by the Indian State.

And, if this course is not corrected quickly, he says it could develop into an inferno, engulfing vast tracts of the country, including urban centres which the government now consider as safe zones.

Despite being a thoroughbred police officer from the Assam cadre who dealt with insurgencies in the troubled states of the Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir,

Rammohan's prescription to tackle the Maoists insurgency relies far less on security perspective and more on the socioeconomic aspects. "Give land to the tiller and forests back to the tribals. Implement these two things with the help of strong willed and honest administration," he says. "Plus, bring down the vast gap between the rich and the poor and you would start witnessing that Maoists are on the wane."

In a freewheeling three hour chat in Delhi where he lives, Rammohan lets out his anger against a social system without any remorse. "You are wrong if you think that doling out money through funds and schemes can help solve the problem. The money will be routed back here, to Delhi, in to the deep pockets of corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen. The answer, as I said, is absolute implementation of the Land Ceiling Act and giving forests and its resources, including the lucrative mineral wealth, back to the tribals," he retorts.

"Why cannot we, a welfare state based on socialist tenets, do the same with our tribal people that America and Australia did for their past mistakes against Red Indians and Aborigines by seeking their forgiveness and giving back reserved lands to them?" he says. Despite the fact that his family lost vast tracts of land during the "Land to the Tiller" movement in his native Kerala, Rammohan is an ardent supporter of late Communist chief minister EMS Namboodaripad. "I have no regrets, no illusions. EMS did the right thing. It is because of his policies that the Maoist insurgency could not take root there. If other states followed the same exa mple you would see that more than half of the problem is gone."

"You know it is caste and the unbridled exploitation carried through it that is the root cause of the problem. For how long can you hide that the majority of the people have been reeling under this exploitation for ages? Can their aspirations for a just society be quelled by quickfix solutions like deploying security forces or the Army? No, it is a gross misnomer and the sooner our leaders understand this, the better for the country."

"If you bring the Army in, the situation will improve temporarily as they will quell the rebellion. But the quiet will remain only for some time. It is like putting a lid on a boiling pot only to let it explode later. Without the permanent removal of social injustice the insurgency will come back again, perhaps more viciously," he adds.

Rammohan's take on the Maoists is radically different from most of his colleagues. "I do not believe in the propaganda that they are extortionists and exploiters. Their leadership comes from a determined lot of people who lost faith in our system because of its failure to remove injustices, and took to a violent ideology to form an equal society. Their intention is not bad, the method is.

"Ownership of the land has always been with three upper castes - the Kshatriyas, Brahmins and the Vaishyas. Among these, the Vaishyas or the Baniyas - the Marwaris, Chettiyars, Reddys and the Kammas - have been the most vicious. Besides land, they also exploit the lower castes and the tribals while doing business with them. The police - the supposed protectors - also help the baniya, the exploiter and not the poor tribal, the exploited. Naturally, he goes to the Maoist fold that has given him justice by distributing land and punishing the baniya," he laments.

"It is beyond my comprehension why our State develops cold feet when it comes to removing injustices. Why cannot India, the so called welfare that has socialism as one of its tenets, make the society more equal?" he questions and then proposes his own remedy.

"The upper castes should be prevented from entering the forests altogether. The baniyas, including their modern avatar, the corporate, should be barred from having business and only the tribals should be allowed to carry out their trade, including mining, through cooperatives owned by them."

The genesis of the Maoist insurgency, according to Rammohan, goes back to the Tebhaga Movement of 1946 when the undivided CPI started working with the exploited peasants in the Rangpur and Dinajpur regions of Bengal and forcibly took away land from the exploiter landlords. It then spread to the Telangana region during 1946 to 1951. And then came the Naxalbari insurrection of 1967 after the split of the CPI.

"It spread among Girijans (tribals) of Srikakulam in 1968 and during the same time to Midnapore and Birbhum districts of West Bengal and then among peasants of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Its spread widened to Andhra, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and Bihar again in 1980s. Wherever you see, the spread took place because our so called welfare democracy could not get the poor their due," says Rammohan, getting back to his sober self.

The former DG, who still has a gait that can rival officers half his age, differs hugely with the present government policy of dealing with the Maoists with the help of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

"Instead of hunting down Maoist guerrillas, the paramilitary forces should be used to enforce the right of the tribals on forests and its wealth. And in place of the CRPF, the Centre should use more disciplined and resolute force like BSF and ITBP. The state police should be put under strict supervision so that it works only in the interest of the tribals," he says.

Via - Indian Express

Meeting with CRPF Intelligence Officer in Tamil Nadu

Recently I bumped into a CRPF Intelligence Officer while in Tamil
Nadu under some very strange circumstances. And he wasn't just
any intelligence officer but claimed to be be involved in countering
Left Wing Extremism.

But before we get to that , I think I should apprise you of some
background details.

It so happens that sometime towards the end of last year,
I took the decision to enroll in a post graduate course.

I wasn't interested in a full time course so after going through
all the Universities that offered distance learning courses zeroed
down on what I thought was the best of the lot which was based
in a city in Tamil Nadu .

The course that I finally chose for various reasons was a masters
in psychology.

Its a 2 year course and all one has to do is write 5 annual exams in a
year and attend 10 days of practicals. So basically I am spared the
torture that most full time students have to endure in the four
walls of a class room.

It is in this psychology practical lab which took place last week in a
city in Tamil Nadu, that I bumped into CRPF
Intelligence officer Pragadeeshwaran G , a tamilian
formerly with the Q Branch of Tamil Nadu but now posted in the
Uttarpradesh - Chhattisgarh Border as an Intelligence Officer in
Counter Insurgency Operations with the CRPF.

Strangely my class had more than a 100 people from diverse
backgrounds and out of the half dozen people or so with
whom I cared to interact with , I happened to meet this officer.
It seems opposites indeed attract..

It seems that he was fresh cadre and had only recently completed
his training and was on study leave from his unit which is currently
posted near the U.P-CG border.. he gave the name of the town
too but it was an unfamiliar term and I seem to have forgotten it.

While some of you may be familiar with the abuses I have hurled
at the CRPF on this blog and even rechristened them as
the Central Rakshas(Demon) Police Force in light of their great
achievements . I do not have anything against them on a personal level.

While for ten days we were in the same practical batch consisting
of 20 members , we hardly spoke again after the first meeting.
I wasn't too enthusiastic about talking to him , while he too
kept to himself.

While I was not able to observe any overt criminal tendencies or mental
illnesses which could have prompted him to enroll in the CRPF , I think
the main reason he could have joined it is for financial reasons.
So this basically classifies him as a mercenary.

While I seem to have finished flirting with the Maoist Movement and
have moved on in life , Pragadeeshwaran G is going to waste his time
engaged in the futile task of countering the Maoist movement.

The same movement which couldn't be finished off by the
combined might of the Indian Army,Police and Paramilitary
forces in the 1970's that too when the naxalite cadre were
armed with pipe guns and fire crackers for self defense.

That now in 2008 when the Maoists have AK-47's and IED's people
indeed believe that the Maoist movement can be countered shows
how cut off the ruling powers in Delhi are from reality.