On the first anniversary of the joint forces' operation against Naxalites in West Midnapore, the West Bengal Police today said the battle against the Naxals is a long-drawn process but the rule of law has been established in the Naxal stronghold of Jungle Mahal.
The year saw tough challenges for the joint forces during which Naxals killed 24 EFR personnel in Sildah on February 15 and are suspected to be involved in the Jnaneswari Express disaster which left 148 people dead.
"The success or the failure of the joint forces cannot be defined in a single line. It is a long process and we have to wait for some more time," West Bengal Director General of Police Bhupinder Singh said.
"But it is true that we have made significant improvement in the area in comparison to the situation last year," Singh said when asked about the success of the operations. West Midnapore Superintendent of Police Manoj Verma said, "It is true that in the last one year the rebels have been successful in making some deadly attacks like at Sildah and the Jnaneswari Express derailment. But, in one year, police and the joint forces have been successful in reaching out to the farthest corners of Jungle Mahal and rule of law has been established."
Jungle Mahal comprises Naxal-infested forested areas of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia districts. The rebels have called for a bandh today coinciding with one year of operations of security forces in the area. "Our primary task was to establish administrative control over the area so far dominated by the Naxalites and we have done so," Verma said.
Another senior police officer said, "We have been successful in setting up a human intelligence network in the area and that has started giving results."
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Citing the success of the joint forces on June 16 in gunning down eight hardcore rebels at Ranja forest, he said, "We had a specific tip-off that they had set up a camp at Duli village and were staying there for two days. We closed in on Duli village and launched an operation which gave us big success."
The officer cited the March 25 encounter at Hatiloth forest in which Kishenji was alleged to have been injured.
"We acted on a tip-off provided by local villagers that Kishenji was present. It is true we did not find any bodies, but we sent a message to the Naxals that it was not their territory anymore. That was the first operation when we could make a dent in the red bastion," the officer said.
Referring to the efforts of the joint forces to win over the villagers, the officer said, "We have been distributing books, carom boards and footballs in Ramgarh, Kadasole, Pingboni, Kantapahari, Pirakata, Dohijhuri, which were all Naxal strongholds. The people there no longer consider the joint forces to be their enemy."
Last year on June 18, when the joint forces launched the operation, Lalgarh police station area was cut off from the rest of the district.
Police were barred from entering the area for nine months preceding that and it was declared a free zone by the Naxal-backed People's Committee Against Police Atrocities.
According to official estimates, the Naxals have killed 39 joint force personnel besides 180 people, including 140 CPI(M) supporters, workers and leaders, in the past one year.
Verma said, "We have killed 25 rebels and arrested more than 700, including 63 hardcore ones."