'Western ghats may turn a haven for militants'

By Our Special Correspondent

COIMBATORE, AUG. 26. Senior police officers, who have been involved in the Special Task Force operations against the sandalwood smuggler, Veerappan, are apprehensive about the release of Tamil extremists in exchange for the abducted Kannada actor, Mr. Rajkumar.

Many officers feel that the situation could get out of control if the released extremists join Veerappan. Apart from the danger of more Tamil chauvinistic elements teaming up with Veerappan, there was the possibility of other Naxalite groups such as the PWG seeking collaboration with the forest brigand.

Veerappan, they say, is at present operating in an area of 12,000 sq km in MM Hills, Hidayer Halla, Dhodde Sampige and BR Temple Reserve Forests in Karnataka and north Bargur and south Bargur, Gittiyalatur, Thalaimaali, Nilgiri-Easthalope and Mudumalai-Moyar in Tamil Nadu.

``Once these extremists learn to survive in the jungle, it would be very difficult to tackle them because of their knowledge of arms and ammunition,'' police officers point out.

The western ghats might become the major hideout for militants who join Veerappan.

The TNLA is reported to have about 50 hardcore members, mostly vanniar youths, in districts such as Perambalur, Cuddalore, Pudukottai, Villupuram and Thanjavur. Many of the Dalits in the group have come overground and joined groups such as the DPI.

The number of TNRT men could be only about 20. Most of those with Veerappan now are from the TNLA and only a few are from the TNRT.

According to the police, the common link was that both the groups wanted a ``separate Tamil Nadu.'' The TNRT is known to be pro- LTTE. Indeed, some of them such as Muthukumar, Krishnamurthy, Jayaprakash and Saravanan had strong links with the Lankan group. ``Krishnamurthy and Muthukumar have fought alongside the LTTE in Sri Lanka,'' the police say. Jayaprakash and Saravanan too have taken part in the Eelam struggle.

`Radio' Venkatesan, the most dreaded of the militants whose release Veerappan has sought, was captured by the police only after a five-year hunt.

The officers feel, that from now on, STF operations would be hampered as no combing operation could be successful without the cooperation of the villagers. With the strengthening of the Veerappan gang, the STF would have to rebuild its intelligence network. Already, the people of most of the villages in the Satyamangalam forests are loyal to Veerappan. They have also formed the base for Veerappan's recruitment to his gang for the past several years.

Apart from being unhelpful to STF personnel, the villagers pass on information to Veerappan frustrating police operations against the gang. The STF men claim that they have been crippled by the activities of human rights bodies.

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