E-MAIL THIS LINK
To: 

Red flag over East India
The abortive assassination attempt on Chandrababu Naidu, the chief minister of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, by the left-extremist Peoples War Group (PWG), signals that the PWG is not a spent force — it is able and willing to strike targets of its choice. Naidu escaped with a fractured collarbone when five claymore mines exploded close to the bulletproof car in which he was traveling. Claiming responsibility for the attack on Naidu, the PWG in a statement said that he and the state police were "enemies of the people" because of their "anti-people policies" and "deserved to be eliminated".

Formed in April of 1980, the PWG started its operations in the Telangana region, Andhra’s most backward area. Today, it is active in at least 12 of Andhra’s 23 districts. The PWG draws inspiration from Mao’s people’s war and aims at capturing political power through a protracted armed struggle based on guerrilla warfare. It has built up bases in remote areas and set up "liberated zones". The PWG influence runs in several other states, including Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar. The PWG is said to have around 1,100 fighters and over 5,000 underground activists. However, its support is said to be on the decline. Many were put off by bloody inter-group wars. Several have expressed their distaste for its increasing resort to terror tactics and its targeting of innocent civilians. The PWG arsenal is said to have grown in sophistication over the years. In the early years of its existence, knives, sickles and axes and other household and farm equipment were the main weapons. Today, its arsenal includes AK-47s, sten guns and an assortment of explosives and land mines. In comparison to other militant organizations operating in South Asia, such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the arsenal of the PWG might seem less sophisticated. This is in part because the PWG lacks the kind of state sponsors that the Hizbul or the Lashkar have, or the sort of support that the LTTE can draw on among the Tamil diaspora. The PWG has sought to overcome these shortcomings by cooperating in various ways with South Asian militant groups. Although the left-extremist movement is riven with personal rivalries and differences regarding ideology and tactics, its various groups have come together to share access to arms and explosives.

According to reports, the PWG has strong links not only with the Bihar and Jharkhand-based Maoist Community Center (MCC) and the Nepalese Maoists, it also has ties with the LTTE, which go back to the 1980s when the Tigers are said to have shared with the PWG their expertise on improvised explosive devices. Despite their ideological differences — the LTTE is Tamil nationalist, the PWG is left-extremist — the two worked well together. Their common opposition to the Indian state cemented the bond. It is said the LTTE/PWG still work together, with the former selling weapons to the PWG. However, it is with other Maoist organizations worldwide that the PWG has the strongest ties. It is said to have fraternal links with the Liberation Army of Peru and the Kurdistan Workers Party. It has attempted to "internationalize its appeal" by taking part in international seminars where likeminded outfits participate.
The Kurdistan Workers Party is PKK/KADEK, I think the Liberation Army of Peru is another name for the Shining Path, 2 groups that are responsible for tens of thousands of deaths.

On July 1, 2001, nine left-extremist outfits active in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh formed an umbrella grouping, the Coordination Committees of Maoist Parties and Organizations (CCOMPOSA). The compost CCOMPOSA includes, among others, the PWG, the MCC and the Nepalese Maoists. The support CCOMPOSA constituents extend to each other goes beyond the moral articulated in their speeches and pamphlets. Nepalese Maoist representatives are known to have participated in the PWG congresses. The formation of CCOMPOSA has also facilitated the exchange of expertise, weapons training and flow of weapons. While explosives stolen from quarries and ordnance factories flow from the PWG hands to the Nepalese Maoists, guns are said to move in the reverse direction. The real significance of the creation of the CCOMPOSA, say analysts, lies in the consequent emergence of a "compact revolutionary zone". Cooperation between Maoist outfits active in Nepal through Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh up to Andhra has provided the left-extremists contiguous areas in which to operate, move, hide and train. In effect, this means access for the PWG to hideouts right up to Nepal.

According to Indian intelligence officials, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which is said to be active along the porous India-Nepal border, has tapped into the left-extremist groups very effectively. Maoism is unlikely to have adherents in the ISI, but anti-India sentiment bonds the ISI with left-extremists of the PWG. The bond has been mutually beneficial, say Indian Intelligence sources, as left-extremists like the MCC and the PWG have received weapons from the ISI, which they have used against the Indian state.
Of course it couldn’t be terrorism without a Pakistani connection, but I wonder who else (if anyone) supports the Maoists in Nepal and elsewhere.
Posted by: Paul Moloney 2003-10-11
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=19728