Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad   

Police unfazed by PW threats

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD March 5. Is desperation resulting in aggressive talk ? Or is the People's War (PW) getting ready for launching an intensified attack on politicians and the police?

Two media interviews in quick succession in Nalgonda and Kurnool districts by the PW cadres where the message sought to be sent across was targeting of police and politicians, were subjects of discussion among police top brass in the State capital on Wednesday.

Senior police officers dismissed the PW threats as being borne out of growing desperation among the leaders and viewed the aggressive assertions on targeting any policeman or blasting any bus in which police were travelling as part of a morale building exercise.

``The PW did it in the Chintaguda forest area in Warangal and killed scores of civilians. Their Central Committee secretary, Ganapathi, had to later acknowledge that it was indeed a mistake to target a bus leading to civilian casualties. Now how can they say that they will attack any bus'', a senior police officer pointed out.

The aggression in the statements of the PW leaders was indeed surprising since the party had conceded that the left wing extremist movement suffered a serious loss in the struggle areas. The party documents too show that the leadership had almost withdrawn their cadres from plain areas. Intelligence inputs also show that the underground armed cadre were only moving in forest areas and on the fringes of forests.

A senior police officer felt that never in the past the PW cadres had ever conceded their failed attempts to attack police or politicians, more so during media interviews.

But during the interview given in Nallamala forest, a PW leader maintained that an attempt to attack a team of Ministers, police and other officials on the Velugodu balancing reservoir did not succeed as the naxalites ran short of wires to connect to the landmines.

``It's indeed strange. Never did they concede like this'', an officer commented while pointing out that the `voluntary disclosure' was meant to threaten the politicians and other department officials not to visit any `so-called' naxal strongholds.

The naxals must have talked like that to scare away the politicians and officials, since police teams would never stop their movement based on naxal threats, another officer reasoned out.

When contacted, the DGP, Pervaram Ramulu, pointed out that the PW cadres were on the run in the State. "They are desperate and will say anything. We will take appropriate action whenever necessary. But we will never act in haste''.

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