The killing of two Maoists in an alleged shoot-out with the police on Thursday has dispelled the incredulity that surrounded the Maoist presence in the Nilambur forests.
Many people, including some forest officials, had refused to believe that Maoists had taken up abode in the dense forests of Nilambur, spread across the North and South divisions. Rather they had preferred to convince themselves that the Maoist story, with sporadic episodes of sighting and fighting, was a myth created by the police for some purpose.
Even when the police engaged a group of Maoists in a gunfight at the Mundakkadavu Adivasi colony in the Karulai range on September 26 night, many living in Nilambur, Karulai, Edakkara, Moothedam and Vazhikkadavu refused to believe it.
People living outside the forests were generally not concerned much about the Maoists even when reports about Maoist presence in Adivasi colonies appeared frequently in the local media. When an elderly woman named Khadeeja at Marutha said that an armed group had visited her house on a night a couple of years ago, disbelief was the response of many.
But Thursday’s killing of two Maoists has shocked the people in the region, forcing them to believe that the presence of ultras was a reality. “We heard the news with shock. We never thought it was real,” admitted Noufal Babu, a youngster from Vazhikkadavu.
People living in the close fringes of Kalkkulam and Padukka woke up to the sound of gunshots from the forests between 11.30 a.m. and 12 p.m. on Thursday. They said gunshots continued for 15 minutes, and later sporadic shots were heard. They realised that it was the first Maoist killing in the State only when senior police officers reached the Padukka forest station a couple of hours later. Many are still in fear in the region. Chennan, an Adivasi at Poolakkapara colony, said he did not know what to do. “The police tell me not to go inside the forest. But we have to live,” he said, sitting outside his house. Maoists have so far been inimical to neither Adivasis nor other people living on the fringes. Adivasis rather cooperated with Maoists whenever they asked for food. With the killing of two of them and the others spreading out in the forest, the worries and fears of the people have increased manifold.
