Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The surrender of Madhya Pradesh’s biggest group of Naxals, Kanha National Park and the entire northern Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (MMC) Zone have been declared free of left-wing extremism, officials said here on Monday.
In what is being termed the biggest development in anti-Naxal operations in the Naxalite-infested Balaghat district, ten hardcore and wanted armed Left-Wing Extremist (LWE) cadres, including four women, surrendered before Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Sunday.
According to officials of the anti-Naxal agencies, following the mass surrender, the entire northern part of the CPI (Maoist) MMC Zone, which runs through Kanha National Park, is now free of LWE activity. The northern part of the MMC Zone covers Kabirdham (Chhattisgarh) and major parts of MP’s Balaghat and adjoining Mandla district, which now stand free from the Kanha-Bhoramdev (KB) Division of the special MMC Zone.
This implies that Kanha National Park is now completely free of Naxal activity. As a result, anti-Naxal camps of the MP Police and supporting central paramilitary forces are likely to be shifted from the northern MMC Zone to the southern MMC Zone, which comprises the Gondia-Rajnandgaon-Balaghat (GRB) division of the outlaws. The southern part of the MMC Zone runs through Rajnandgaon and Khairagarh (Chhattisgarh), Gondia (Maharashtra) and Balaghat (MP).
Focus on Southern MMC Zone
The entire focus of the forces is now on the southern MMC Zone, which is currently reporting the movement of a few armed Naxals. Meanwhile, in a breakthrough for security forces, 12 Naxalites, including dreaded CCM Ramdher Majji, surrendered before police authorities in Chhattisgarh’s Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai district on Monday.
Killer of inspector Ashish Sharma surrenders
On November 29, an 11-member group of Naxal cadres led by Anant alias Vikas Nagpure - involved in the killing of MP police’s elite Hawk Force inspector Ashish Sharma last month - surrendered before Maharashtra Police in Gondia district. Nagpure played a key role in motivating Ramdher and his aides to surrender before the Chhattisgarh police on Monday. Nagpure has left behind four cadres to contact the remaining 14-member group led by Ramdher and convince them too to lay down arms.
