Naxalite Violence - Articles

In the last week of August, the Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and Organizations of South Asia (CCOMPOSA) successfully concluded its fourth conference at an undisclosed location in Nepal. The conference was attended by the Proletarian party of Purba Bangla-CC, the Communist Party of East Bengal (ML) (Red Flag), the Balgladesher Samyobadi Dal (ML) (all from Bangladesh), the Communist Party of Bhutan (MLM), Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), Communist Party of India (Maoist), Communist Party of India (ML) Naxalbari and Communist Party of India (MLM). The Communist Party of Ceylon (Maoist), which attended the meeting, is not a signatory to the resolution, thereby indicating that it was invited as an observer to the conference.

At a time when the relevance of SAARC is being widely questioned, the political leadership in South Asia can hardly afford to ignore this Maoist quest for redemption in the region. When SAARC was formed it was looked upon not only as the unified platform of South Asia in world politics, but also as a platform for regional cooperation and development. However, the experience of  the past few years shows that many things are still lacking in attaining that goal. On the other hand, when CCOMPOSA  was formed it was seen as just another Maoist platform. The the last four years, however, show that it has established itself as the principal coordinator of Maoist Movements in different parts of the region. The fourth CCOMPOSA meeting, through its political resolution, vowed to strengthen and expand relations among the Maoist organizations in the region and to assist each other to fight the foes in their respective countries.

During the conference, the member representatives took a close look at the ground reality and declared unanimously that South Asia has become a "burning cauldron" of revolutionary movements. Even though the political leadership in South Asia is often shy to accept this, Maoist movements have become an obvious geopolitical feature of the region. In Nepal, Maoists have carved out a distinct place for them in the political structure of the country. Similarly, in India the merger of two major Maoist parties have given them so much strength that even Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh was forced to declare Naxalism as the single largest security challenge before the nation. In Bangladesh, despite divisions in ranks, Maoists have made strenuous efforts to unite and spread revolutionary activity to new areas. In Bhutan "sprouts" of new Maoist movement have also begun.

While hailing the People's War in Nepal, the conference also provided a suitable platform to restore normalcy in the relationship between the CPI (Maoist) and the CPN (Maoist). Recently, both the Maoist outfits were involved in a statement war with regard to the separate interpretations of Maoism in both countries. During the conference, both the CPI (Maoist) and CPN (Maoist) came out with a joint press statement in which both agreed that all tactical questions being adopted in the respective countries would be the sole concern of the national parties. At the same, the political resolution passed at the conference asserted that the coordination committee would "deepen and extend the links between genuine Maoists of the region and increase the coordination to fight back the enemies in the respective countries."

These recent developments leave one wondering why and how Maoism has prevailed here in South Asia. Does Maoism as an ideology suit South Asia or do conditions in South Asia allow Maoism to grow, or is it a combination of the two? The study of specific Maoist movements in South Asia reveals that Maoist forces have proved to be effective in mobilizing and exciting people to commit acts of violence , with  the expectation that it will bring about positive social, economic, and political change. However, the use of violence in the name of development cannot be justified as violence itself is the greatest form of human exploitation.

Effectively dealing with Maoist insurrections in South Asia will necessitate the implementation of a policy that brings new ideas, goals and projects to the peasants and rural poor. In the context of a steady Maoist march in South Asia, SAARC has  a crucial role to play. The SAARC member states should initiate and encourage such consultations to develop counter insurgency measures through joint strategies, action plans and cooperative programmes. Besides, the region shares  common problems such as poverty, unemployment and population explosion and successfully tackling Maoism in the region would depend on how these variables are perceived and tackled. A comparison between SAARC and CCOMPOSA may sound unrealistic today, but the political leadership in the region must not allow the Maoists to hijack the notion of regional cooperation. SAARC nations must ensure that such a situation never arises or else it would give a completely new dimension to the concept of regional cooperation.