The Naxal insurgency is not limited to the eastern or central parts of the country. It is slowly advancing in the north too.
According to a recent Intelligence Bureau (IB) internal report, the banned CPI (Maoist) is operating through 128 frontal organisations in Haryana, Delhi (NCR), Uttrakhand, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Kerala.
Though the IB's internal report has established growing Naxal activities in Punjab, there is no information about the exact number of frontal organisations active in the state.
While no arrests have been made recently, the Jalandhar Police in January 2009 arrested Jai Parkash Dubey from Phillaur, a senior Communist Party of India (Maoist) Naxalite, who was trying to revive Naxalism in the state.
Threat: An intelligence Bureau internal report states that CPI (Maoists) is operating through 128 frontal organisations across the country, including Punjab, Haryana and the NCR
Former chief minister and newly-elected Amritsar MP Captain Amrinder Singh said in his address delivered during the Chintan Shivir in Jaipur on January 2013: "All 22 districts of Punjab have reported Naxal activities. When I was the chief minister, only two districts had Naxal presence."
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, during a state plan meeting in New Delhi in April 2012, had warned the Planning Commission functionaries.
"The farmers are facing challenges like falling agriculture income, rising agriculture debt and high farm investments. If nothing is done soon to deal with this impending crisis, there would be Naxalism in Punjab," Badal had said.
Director general of Punjab Police Sumedh Singh Saini, however, said no naxal activity has been noticed in the state, and refused to comment any further.
Meanwhile, the IB report states that while eight CPI (Maoist) frontal organisations are active in Haryana, activities of nine frontal organisations are under scanner in Delhi NCR.
