Maoists forcefully acquire land in Jharkhand's Latehar area

Latehar (Jharkhand), July 28 (ANI): Maoists have forcefully acquired over 100 acres of land in Jharkhand's Latehar District and threatened to kill those who dare to carry out any sort of activity on the land.

Maoists have put up the posters throughout the village debarring villages from carrying out any kind of activity on the acquired land.

"They had come and told us that no body will sow anything in the fields of the landlords and have pasted the posters regarding this in the entire village.

They want to say that nobody will do farming in these farms or sow any kind of crop in the fields of the landlords," said Shahid Ansari, a villager.

According to the villagers, Maoists had acquired this land in 1990. However, the villagers continued to do farming on the land and one fourth of the production was given to the Maoists. Of late the villagers had refused to give their produce to the Maoists.

The Maoist insurgency has gripped nearly one-third of the country, spreading into the interiors of 20 of India's 28 states.

The Maoists have also significantly increased their presence in tribal and rural regions of the states of Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa.

Despite stringent measures taken by the authorities in curbing the violent insurgency, Maoists have stepped up their efforts in surgically attacking the democratic institutions of the nation on the pretext of 'fighting for the rights of the oppressed'.

The guerrilla war, waged mostly from the forests of central and eastern India by ultras of the banned Communist Party of India-Maoist, now poses the country's biggest internal security challenge, say analysts. (ANI)