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India Maoists release police hostages in Bihar

British Broadcasting Corporation

Police in the eastern Indian state of Bihar say Maoist rebels have released three policemen they were holding hostage for eight days.

Last week, the rebels killed one of the four policemen they had taken hostage in Lakhisarai district. They took the policemen hostage last Monday after a gunfight in which seven other policemen were killed. The rebels had threatened to kill all the policemen unless eight Maoist prisoners were released. Indian security forces have been battling Maoists in several states.

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Tehelka Magazine on Azad

Are we living in a State that mouths peace but shoots its messengers?

OPINION: AZAD KILLING

FAKERY HAS always been a key instrument of power. But last week, as the President and Prime Minister of India made their Independence Day speeches, cocooned symbolically in towers of glass, the scale of that fakery shot skyward. Both leaders augustly urged the Maoists, yet again, to "abjure violence" and come for talks. Few among the millions of Indians who heard them would have caught the cynicism.

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On the hostages in Bihar and the execution of Lucas Tete

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Indian Maoists kill police hostage

Three other captured officers may also be killed if demands are not met, say rebels in eastern Indian state of Bihar.

Al Jazeera, 03 Sep 2010

Indian Maoist rebels have executed a captured policeman and threatened to kill three others as they stepped up their demands for the release of eight prisoners.

Police said they had recovered the body of Lucas Tete on Friday in an isolated forested district of Lakhisarai in the eastern state of Bihar, about 150km from Patna, the state capital.

"We will kill the three other policemen and send their bodies soon," read a handwritten note found near the body, Shaharukh Majeed, a local policeman, told the AFP news agency.

Search parties assisted by helicopters hovered over the area where the policemen are thought to be held, but the dense forest, hills and risks of attack from Maoists made progress slow.

Late on Thursday, the rebels had claimed they had executed one of the hostages who were seized during a raid on security forces on Sunday that left 10 policemen dead.

The name of the executed policeman had initially been given as Kumar Yadav.

"We killed him and warned the state government to release our comrades by 10:00am (0430 GMT) on Friday morning. Failing this we will kill all three policemen," Avinash, a Maoist spokesman, told local Hindi TV news channels on Thursday evening.

The rebels are demanding the freedom of eight Maoist prisoners and the withdrawal of security forces from their areas in Bihar in exchange for the release of the policemen.

Dialogue and development

The hostage crisis is seen as a major test for Nitish Kumar, Bihar's chief minister, widely credited with improving the economic fortunes of the impoverished state.

Kumar has favoured dialogue and development over a hardline strategy of trying to crush the Maoist movement, which has been described by Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, as the country's biggest internal security threat.

Authorities in New Delhi launched a major offensive last year to tackle the worsening violence, but since then the Maoists have hit back with repeated strikes against police and paramilitary forces.

The chief minister held a meeting with top officials on Friday to map out a strategy to rescue the abducted policemen.

An official in the home ministry said federal forces were on hand to assist with the rescue efforts.

"This is being handled by the state and we are giving them full support whatever they are asking for," Kashmir Singh, senior home ministry official, was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India news agency.

"We gave one helicopter yesterday and another is going today and whatever force is available it is being made available to them," he said.

The Maoist or Naxal movement, as it is known locally, began in 1967 in West Bengal but has since spread to 20 out of India's 29 states.

The movement feeds off land disputes, police brutality and corruption and is strongest in the poorest and most deprived areas of India, which are often rich in natural resources.

 

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On the Killing of Umakanta Mahato

Report on a Fact-Finding Investigation by Banglar  Manabadhikar Suraksha Mansha (MASUM) on the killing of Umakanta Mahato

MASUM conducted a fact finding over the incident of Umakanta Mahato's killing. The fact finding came to a conclusion that Umakanta killed by the posted joint force comprising of Central Reserve Police Force, Local Police personnel, aided by armed mercenaries of ruling party (Harmad). Umakanta was not only deprived by his fundamental right to life; guaranteed by article 21 of Indian Constitution but the whole incident was contravening to Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials adopted by Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, in which India was a party. In our domestic legal domain there are several provisions and procedures with specific directives for minimum use of power and firearms with basic tenets that also should be used only for self defense. But in contrary to all, Umakanta was killed on 27.08.2010 at about 1.00 am while he was returning from adjoining village at Parulia forest in a motorbike with two associates.

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New York: Protest Against the Indian Government's "Operation Green Hunt"

Where: At the Consulate in New York City (3 East 64th Street)
When: On August 13 at 11 a.m.

NEW YORK CITY - Sanhati, and other organizations and individuals, are organizing a protest against the Indian government's insidious war, named "Operation Green Hunt," which has been unleashed on the inhabitants of the forested regions of East-Central India. Read more...

Indian government rejection of Vedanta bauxite mine a “landmark victory” for Indigenous rights

Amnesty International :: 24 August 2010

Amnesty International today described the Indian government’s decision to reject the bauxite mine project in Orissa’s Niyamgiri Hills as a landmark victory for the human rights of Indigenous communities.

India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests today rejected the mine project proposed by a subsidiary of UK-based Vedanta Resources and the state-owned Orissa Mining Corporation, after finding that the project already extensively violates forest and environmental laws and would perpetrate abuses against the Dongria Kondh adivasi and other communities on the Hills.

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15 August: London Protest

“Indian Independence Day” in London turned into a day of militant protests of the crimes and atrocities committed against the people of India and the worsening national oppression by the Indian state.

On August 15, 2010, over 250 people converged in front of the Indian High Commission building in central London to protest the crimes and atrocities of the Indian state against the people of the country. They had gathered from across London and the Midlands to participate in a protest rally that was called by Alliance For People’s Right In South Asia, UK (AFPRISA) in order to express opposition to “Operation Green Hunt”, expose Indian expansionism and to condemn the recent assassination of Azad, the spokesperson of CPI (Maoist).

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Faking An Encounter: Killing the Peace Process

Preliminary Report of the All India Fact Finding Team on the Killing of Azad and H. C Pandey
Released to the media at Hyderabad on 22 August, 2010

CDRO put together a team of concerned citizens consisting of Prof. Emeritus Amit Bahaduri, J.N.U., Delhi, Senior Counsel of Supreme Court Mr. Prashant Bhushan, Kavita Srivatsava, Human Rights worker from Rajasthan, Gautam Navlakha writer & from PUDR, Delhi, Kranthi Chaitanya, Advocate and General Secretary of APCLC, D. Suresh Kumar, Advocate, APCLC, Ch. Sudhakar Rao, President of OPDR, D. Venkateswarlu, OPDR.

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California Protest of Indian Gov’t. Attacks on People in India and Occupied Kashmir

San Francisco, California: On Friday, August 13, an action of solidarity with the people in India and Kashmir-a protest of the Indian government's "Operation Green Hunt" and the repression of the resistance of Kashmiri people's struggle-took place at the Indian Consulate in the San Francisco. It was endorsed by the Sanhati Collective, and participants included US and South Asian solidarity activists from the Bay Area and elsewhere. Read more...

AP protest of Human Rights Violations in Kashmir

A protest demonstration was conducted by the rights group of Andhra Pradesh at Indira Park, Lower Tank Bund road from 11 AM to 2PM. The demands which are made are:

1. Stop all violent actions immediately on people of Kashmir.

2. Withdraw all the Armed forces from civilian areas immediately and confine them to barracks.

3. Release all the people arrested during demonstration and agitations.

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