Kerala rights groups under Intelligence scanner

The Central Intelligence Bureau and the Intelligence wing of the State police have intensified their surveillances over the various Left-oriented rights groups and suspected Islamist organizations in Kerala in the context of reports about the inter-state connections of many of them.

The Intelligence community has got credible evidences on the links of such organizations with outfits working outside the State and on the presence of extremist elements from other states in Kerala. Sources said that Kollam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Kannur and Wayanad districts were under the special Intelligence scanner. They also said that the links of several Leftist rights groups with suspected Islamist outfits were also being probed.

Intelligence officials are of the opinion that most of the seminars and meetings that Leftist groups are organizing in the State could actually be venues for the safe convergence of extremism-oriented intellectuals in Kerala and from outside. They also say that such meetings are taking place frequently in central and northern Kerala, where the Naxalite movement was strong once.

“Such seminars and meetings have now become a trend. We have noted the presence of former Naxalites and pro-Islamist intellectuals in such gatherings. I strongly doubt that a new kind of trans-organizational unity is taking place in Kerala,” said a senior Intelligence official. He said some such outfits were enjoying the support of certain reputed mediapersons.

The official pointed out that the Kerala intellectuals in general had taken a largely anti-Government stand on the question of the Maoist menace in the Red Corridor while “the nation as a whole is standing united”. Organizers of such meetings and seminars were taking particular care to involve thinkers with Government connections with the obvious intention of confusing the police, he said.

“Meetings are taking place in the central and northern Kerala regions almost on a daily basis on the Maoist issue. The opinions coming out of most of these meetings are the same. They argue that the Maoist menace is a natural reaction to the Governmental and corporate exploitation and repression of tribespeople,” he said.

The Intelligence wing of the Kerala Police has already got indications of links between some groups of migrant workers from Maoist-infested areas of Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, etc and certain human rights activists and former Naxalites. Such connections had come to light when hardcore Andhra Pradesh Naxalite leader Mallaraja Reddy was arrested from Ernakulam district three years ago.

Intelligence officials say that several Maoists from other states could be living in the quarries and construction sites in the State posing as workers. They also doubt that several of such people, especially those from West Bengal, could be having connections with Islamist groups in Bangladesh. “The recent seizure of counterfeit currencies from a migrant worker from West Bengal is proof of this,” said an official.

Union Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran had the other day said that the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence had influence over some organizations and regions in Kerala. There were reports that some month ago, two activists from the Communist Party of Philippines had held a training camp somewhere in the jungles of Kerala.