With less than a week to the March 31 deadline set by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to eliminate Left Wing Extremism (LWE), security forces have launched a final, coordinated push across the “Naxal grid” to neutralise the remaining armed cadres.
Around 130-150 armed Maoists are being tracked by security forces, including two central committee members of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). The Centre has long described LWE as the country’s most serious internal security threat, with the insurgency
claiming nearly 17,000 lives since it began in 1967.
The ongoing offensive seeks complete neutralisation of armed cadres through encounters or surrenders within the final days of the deadline. Elite units of the Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force and Indo-Tibetan Border Police, along with State police, are leading intensive combing and search operations.