Maoists call for spreading people's war across the country

RAIPUR: The banned CPI (Maoists) on Sunday called for spreading the people's war to every nook and corner of the country while celebrating the People's Guerrilla Army (PLA) week from Sunday. The Maoists have pasted posters in the Bastar region, urging activists to take their war to all the corners of the country, a top police officer said here. On December 2, 2000, the Naxalites formed the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) in the memory of three of their Central Committee Members - Shyam, Mahesh and Murali, who they claimed were killed by Andhra Pradesh Police in fake encounters. After the Maoists Communist Centre of India (MCCI) and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) merged to form CPI (Maoists) on September 21, 2004, they converted the PLGA into PLA and vowed to step up their armed struggle, police said. During the PLA week, the Maoists had been specifically targeting security forces, but of late they have started attacking strategic installations like telephone exchanges, railway stations and tracks and electricity towers, they said.