‘Surrender or be ready for an assault,’ is Kerala Police’s message to Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres as part of their new scheme to deal with the rebels active in the State, reports The New Indian Express on August 22. After years of adopting a soft approach towards Maoists – only resorting to defensive tactics after Maoists attacked – the Police are going on the offensive with their ‘Surrender or Assault’ scheme. Under the scheme, Maoists will be given a time frame to surrender, failing which the Police will launch an assault via a series of offensive operations. The State Government’s move to bring in a new scheme to crush Maoists in the State signals the mounting pressure it is under to act tough against rebels in line with the Centre’s policy on Left Wing Extremism (LWE).
State Director General of Police (DGP), Loknath Behera saying, the Police have been lenient in dealing with LWE in Kerala, said, “We cannot continue like this. The state needs to act tough owing to a spurt in Maoist activities in the state. Our ‘surrender-cum-rehabilitation’ policy failed to bring desired results. Under the new scheme, we will give Maoists a chance to surrender and launch assault if they refuse. Since it is illegal to use forest areas as hideouts, we will launch offensive operations if we come across any intruder in forests.” The Government had launched the ‘surrender-cum-rehabilitation’ policy in May last year, and so far, it has seemingly evoked no response from the rebels. Intelligence officers said there are only four Malayalees in the LWE wing in Kerala. The rest of the cadre are from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. “Around 60 cadre are from outside the state which is why Maoists are not embracing the earlier scheme,” said an officer involved in anti-Naxal [Left Wing Extremism, LWE] Operation.