Violence is back in Junglemahal after five months of peace,with Maoists gunning down a Trinamool Congress leader on Wednesday,four days after they had killed a CPM worker. The killings were the first in five months,the last three of which had seen a ceasefire between security forces and the Maoists,though the lack of mutual trust had been evident all along. A group of about 10 Maoists stormed Dhangri in Jhargram and shot Trinamool leader Rabindranath Mishra,who was hiding in a neighbours house. On August 23,Tapan Deshwali,24,a CPM supporter tried by a kangaroo court,was found dead on a Belpahari road,a trademark Maoist way of dumping bodies. Such killings,mostly of alleged police informers,used to be frequent till elections were announced. After Mamata Banerjee came to power,the ceasefire appeared to have set the stage for peace talks with the disappearance of Maoist violence from a region that had earlier seen 15-20 killings a month. Now,the Maoists are upset because the government has not released prisoners as promised. They have started to regroup and issued a diktat that no partys flags,including the Trinamools,should be hoisted in villages,and that rations should be distributed only through outlets they have designated. Security forces,for their part,have resumed operations after having held back at Mamatas insistence and have been raiding possible village hideouts. Trinamool Congress divulged that the party too has started to raise an armed,local resistance force,Bhairav Vahini,with units in Jhargram,Nayagram and Jamboni. On Wednesday,there was an exchange of fire between party cadres and Maoists at Sapdhara in Jhargram. Mamata has already announced her government will raise an armed force. She said a notification for the recruitment of 1,000 to the police,with priority to Junglemahal locals,would be issued on September 10 Mamata has sent Mukul Roy to the site of the killing and declared a compensation package of Rs 5 lakh for victims of Maoist violence,Rs 2 lakh from the state and the rest from the Centre. I am getting reports that Maoists are regrouping in parts of Junglemahal. We are trying to solve the problem peacefully, she said. Another sign of the breakdown came on Wednesday when the Peoples Committee Against Police Atrocities declared a 24-hour bandh in West Midnapore in protest against Trinamool Congress terror. It was the PCAPAs first bandh since the Assembly elections were declared. The face of red terror (CPM harmads) and green terror (Trinamool Bhairav Vahini) is the same,creating fear in the villages. The Trinamool government is maintaining double standards and we will not fall into the trap any more, said a Maoist sympathiser who did not wish to be named. In this situation no peace talk is possible as the government has failed to comply with the preconditions, said Vara Vara Rao,Maoist ideologue. The government has not kept its promise to withdraw Central forces and is not releasing political prisoners. It has started raids and the police have been arresting our cadres. A team of interlocutors negotiating with armed groups says it is still hopeful. They have met arrested Maoist leaders in Midnapore jail. All hope is not lost. We are trying, said Sujato Bhadra,one of the interlocutors. One interlocutor,however,said,We tried to speak with armed units but the response is now not good. We have communicated this to the Chief Minister. Among the demands that the ceasefire had hinged on,a key one was the release of senior leaders CPI (Maoist) founder-member Sushil Roy,former secretary Patipaban Haldar and Chandi Sarkar. Though Chandi Sarkars name figured in the first list of the review committee on the release of political prisoners,the state held back the release after the Centre objected. The BreakdownMaoists Trinamool minister Sukumar Hansda waylaid and accosted MLAs Churamoni Mahato and Srikanta Mahato assaulted Extortion from Trinamool supporters,diktat to villagers not to hoist political parties flags,including Trinamools CPM worker killed after a kangaroo court trial in Belpahari Trinamool leader shot dead in Jhargram Government Joint security forces not withdrawn Arrested Maoists yet to be declared political prisoners,given amnesty and freed raids on villages where Maoist squads have regrouped 25 Maoists rounded up in a fortnight Trinamool sets up armed units to resist Maoists,their members exchange fire with Maoists
