Maoists appeal to jawans for help

In an adept display of psychological warfare, just days after Monday’s gruesome attack in Burkapal in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district that killed 25 CRPF personnel, the propaganda machine of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) has become active with pamphlets purportedly issued by the party surfacing in form of an appeal seeking information and help from jawans.

The pamphlets calling soldiers deployed in the antiMaoist campaign as “brothers” is in form of an appeal to the jawans, asking them

Pamphlets, asking jawans to give information on the movement of officials and VIPs, have appeared in many districts of Bastar

to provide information on the movement of officials and VIPs, saying their identities will be kept secret.

A local source told this newspaper that these pamphlets appeared Friday in several districts of the Bastar zone, which comprises seven districts and is even bigger than Kerala in size.

Interestingly, the purported single-page note refers to the various posts by paramilitary and armed forces personnel, complaining of bad quality food and other service conditions on Facebook and WhatsApp in recent days, and says: “It seems that like us, your are also victims of oppression and compulsion…so do not make us your targets”.

“Our enemy is the common — big leaders and officials sitting in Raipur and New Delhi”.

“All you have to do is to inform the movements of big leaders and officials to any villager and we will do the rest… your identities will never be revealed. Just trust us for once… we will fight this battle for our rights together…this is a fight between the rich and the poor,” says the note.

Interestingly, on Thursday, an audio clip reportedly issued by Vikalp, spokesperson, Dandakaranya Special Zone Committee, has also been doing the rounds, in which he says that the Monday’s attack was in response to the “barbaric killings and sexual violence against tribal women”.

In a 12-year-period from 2005 to 2017, Maoist violence has claimed 7,475 lives, including 2,994 civilians, 1,910 security forces personnel and at least 2,571 Maoists.