Maoists' China link

In the first major evidence of Maoists’ link to China, the special cell of Delhi police has learnt that a top guerrilla is operating the arms syndicate from China. Interrogation of two People’s Liberation Army of (PLA) of Manipur leaders arrested last week revealed that the chief of the political wing of the PLA — Irengbam Chaoren — is hiding in China. The police have also come to know that banned outfit PLA, having over 1,500 cadres, was planning to liaise with terrorist outfits based in PoK, including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and separatist groups based in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast. Officials also claimed that ISI was funding PLA for supplying arms and ammunition to Maoists in the country and a “Strategic United Front” was being made to carry out attacks in India and on security forces in the Naxal-affected areas. Police had arrested two top leaders — N Dilip Singh (51) and Arun Kumar Singh Salam (36) — from a Paharganj hotel. They found maps of training camps being run by PLA in Myanmar for Maoists. The police claimed they have photographic evidence of the Myanmarbased PLA offering training in guerilla warfare to Maoist cadres from six Indian states in 2009 and 2010. The training camps were organized deep inside the forests of Orissa and Jharkhand. However, the revelation that ISI is secretly funding a part of the PLA activities has sent security agencies into a tizzy.