Centre bans CPI (Maoist); declares it a terror outfit

New Delhi, Jun 22 : After years of reeling under the naxal menace which has left hundreds dead, including a sizeable number of security personnel, the government today banned the CPI (Maoist) group and declared it as a ''terror outfit''.

A notification branding the Communist Party of India (Maoist) as a terror outfit, was issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs here.

With today's notification, the number of banned organisations in the country has risen to 34 including among others the NSCN (IM), Hizbul Mujahideen, HUJI, Lashkar-e-Toiba and ULFA.

The ban on the outfit comes despite the West Bengal government opposing the move, even though the Maoists have laid siege in Lalgarh and part of West Midnapore district.

Surprisingly, state Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had not entirely favoured Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's proposal in this regard when he asked him to ban the extremist group in the wake of the volatile situation in Lalgarh in his meeting with him recently.

Experts say the Centre's decision stems from the fact that several states like Chhattishgarh and Andhra Pradesh have already placed a ban on the Maoists.

UNI