Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Alerting naxal `targets' through mobile phone network

By K. Srinivas Reddy

HYDERABAD DEC. 9. The beep of a mobile signalling the arrival of a text message could as well be saving a life.

The rapid spread of mobile telephony in rural areas, thanks to the extensive network of the Bharat Sanchal Nigam Limited and other private GSM operators, is now being used to alert the `targets' relentlessly hunted by naxalite action teams out on `seek-and-destroy' missions.

In a replicable experiment, police in Karimnagar district have begun using the Short Messaging Service (SMS) facility to alert naxalite targets about the possible movement of an action team in their respective areas and the likelihood of a strike against him. The police believe that they can save the lives of many a target through their innovative Target Alert Message Service (TAMS), launched in Karimnagar on Today.

The exercise assumes significance in the backdrop of an open declaration by the Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist People's War (PW) that it would attack any and every active member of the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) as well as its ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Following this assertion, the police have identified more than 700 persons in Karimnagar district alone, who are likely to be PW targets. The mandal-level convenors of the parties apart from those already on the hit list of the PW are sought to be alerted through the SMS facility.

"Most of these mandal-level workers have mobile phones and what best way other than this to alert them about a possible strike,' the Karimnagar Superintendent of Police, R. S. Praveen Kumar, says. Whenever the police receive information of a PW action team being sighted, all the targets in that particular area would get the SMS instantly. Other than these messages, the police have also prepared templates of messages on precautions to be taken by a targeted person. The messages are in Telugu but in Roman script.

"Avoid a set pattern in movement. Don't go for a walk alone. Look out for strangers" are some of the regular templates to be sent every day morning. "Raise a hue and cry if unidentified people knock on the doors. Keep chilli power ready to attack any intruder. Spend Rs 150 for a bronze bell and ring it in necessity" are some of the messages sought to be sent in the evenings just to remind the targets of the precautions.

The TAMS exercise comes close on the heels of organising Targets Sensitisation meetings organised by the police. Police officers briefed the naxal targets on the movement of action teams, their modus operandi, the way they behave when they chance upon the targets they are going to hit. Those who survived the naxalite attacks too were made to interact with the targets during these meetings.

In addition to this, the Karimnagar police are also bringing out a six-page monthly magazine "Nigha" (meaning surveillance), where all useful tips about saving oneself are given. Information on the action teams, interviews of surrendered naxalites who carried out killings and also those of survivors of naxal attacks are also published. More importantly, the magazine has a section which reviews the killings of PW and analyses the mistakes committed by the slain person and what could have saved him.

"It's only an effort to fill the information gap. Experience shows that lives can be saved if only the targets are alert on their own instead of depending solely on the police for security," Dr. Praveen Kumar says.

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