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Ultras target Jharkhand's weakened police force

Soroor Ahmed in Patna

The recent killing of Superintendent of Police, Lohardagga, Ajay Kumar Singh, and the sudden spurt in extremist activities in Jharkhand region indicate that the Left ultra outfits are out to exploit the administrative and political uncertainty in the proposed state.

The Maoist Communist Centre and the Peoples War Group seem to be competing with each other to expand their support base before a full-fledged government takes control of the situation.

Junior IPS officers, shocked by the killing of their young colleague, believe that the division of police force (between Bihar and the proposed state of Jharkhand) has weakened their positions in several Naxal infested pockets in Jharkhand.

The police force is being divided in the ratio of 2:1.

While nine out of 22 districts of Jharkhand and 22 of 37 districts of the rest of Bihar are extremist infested, officials say that Jharkhand needs more police force simply because it has a larger area covered by jungles and hills.

Though plains of central Bihar -- Jehanabad, Auranagabad, Patna, Nawada and Gaya districts -- are affected by Naxal violence, the extremists' success rate in targeting security forces is higher in Jharkhand.

During the parliamentary elections last September three dozen policemen, para-military jawans and poll officials were killed in Palamu, Hazaribagh and Chatra districts of Jharkhand. Almost all of them died in land mine blasts.

Large-scale smuggling of explosives from the Gomia explosive factory in Jharkhand has added to the fear in the region. These explosives, intelligence inputs say, have passed into the hands of the extremists.

An IPS officer said that the withdrawal of six battalions of Bihar Military Police from Jharkhand has left gaping holes in the security there. "We were anyway fighting extremists one hand tied to our backs...now we are out on one limb," he said.

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