Now, Maoists Eyeing Children

By Rajeshwari Naidu

While the Maoists have let loose a wave of terror in the tribal villages as part of the ongoing People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) week celebrations, villagers are a worried lot as the ‘Red Army’ is forcing them to ‘surrender’ a child — either boy or girl — to join the revolutionary party.

Though increasing use of “child soldiers” has been reported from Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Jharkhand, it is for the first time that the disturbing fact has come to light on Andhra-Orissa Border (AOB). Sources told HNN that Maoists are forcibly recruiting tribal children in the age group of 10 to 18 years.

But, there is a catch. Analysts feel the police could use this to their advantage to win over the tribals and turn them against the Maoists. “It’s a double-edged sword as the police are capable of throwing a spanner in the Maoists’ game plan,” an expert averred.

Sources said Maoists are specifically targeting the youth in Pappuluru, Kappatotti, Naguluru, Tarigetta, Chintagunnal, Kuntawada, Sanyasiguda, Nimmalapadu, Doraguda, Gassiguda and Allurukota villages close to G K Veedhi mandal.

With a view to filling up the ‘vacant slots’ in the military platoons, area committees and dalams because of depleting cadre strength, the Maoist party Malkangiri division resorted to this latest recruitment drive, sources said.

Maoists were threatening the villagers to send at least 10 children from each panchayat to join their ranks, sources said. “If the parents ignore their call, Maoist dalams swoop on the village in the night and take away the youth,” an insider said.

When an armed platoon entered Kappatotti village late on Friday night, many teenagers ran away. “If we refuse to join the party, the rebels will beat our parents,” a boy, who fled the village, told HNN. Nearly 100 children fled to the neighbouring villages of Sileru, Koraput, Jaipore and Viskhapatnam.

The Maoists give training to the children to collect information on cops, police stations, handle sophist i c at e d weapons and plant mines. “The young recruits are also engaged to deliver messages and procure food,” a police official said.

Stating that 90 per cent of the members of the cultural wings of the Maoist party are aged below 16 years, a senior cop said the Maoists use children in their propaganda war against the government. “Once the children become full-time members, the central leadership drafts them to move with the women’s wing or the dalams,” he said.

While the deployment of child soldiers is rampant in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, it surfaced in Sambalpur in Orissa a few years ago. “The police produced a teenager in Anantapur in 2005-06, who claimed to have run away from the clutches of the Maoists,” a former official recalled.