G N SAIBABA

 

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.

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.

NEW DELHI: In a bid to give a sharp edge to anti-Naxal operations, the Union government on Wednesday asked Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal, worst affected by Maoist violence, to set up a Unified Command.

Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram told journalists after a meeting of the Chief Ministers of the Naxal-affected States that the proposed Unified Command would be headed by the four States' Chief Secretaries.

The Unified Command will have a retired Major General as a member. The four States were asked to appoint an Inspector-General-rank police officer to take care of anti-Naxal operations; and appoint an IG (CRPF) as IG (Operations) for that State to work in close coordination with the IG (Anti-Naxal operations) of that State.

Assam and Jammu and Kashmir have Unified Commands in place, headed by the respective Chief Ministers.

by Rahul Pandita

‘Dear Swami Agniveshji…’ Thus began a small step that could have ensured long-lasting peace across India’s Naxal-affected zones, virtually half the country. That letter written by top Maoist leader Azad was addressed to Swami Agnivesh, the social activist chosen by the Centre to hold talks with the CPI (Maoist). Things were moving, and there was the optimism that after an endless cycle of violence, peace could finally be achieved. But before that could happen, Azad was killed by the police in what appears to be a fake encounter. With his death, current hopes of peace have all but vanished. Senior Maoist leader Kishenji reacted immediately to Azad’s killing, calling the ruling Congress party “a big betrayer”.

Open has now learnt from top Maoist sources that much progress had been made towards holding talks with the Government. Azad, as per these sources, was carrying Swami Agnivesh’s letter to the CPI (Maoist)’s guerilla zone in Bastar to discuss it with the Dandakaranya Committee of the party. He had already discussed it with other regional committees, and was moving fast from one place to another to expedite the talks. “This is what the intelligence agencies took advantage of, and managed to zero in on Azad,” says a Maoist leader. Azad was allegedly nabbed from the Nagpur railway station, taken to the forests of Adilabad in Andhra Pradesh (in a helicopter, believe Maoists), and shot dead in cold blood along with another person. “They had been trailing him since March, when they almost got him,” says Gudsa Usendi, spokesperson of CPI (Maoist)’s Dandakaranya Special Zone Committee, where Azad was headed.

Social Activist Swami Agnivesh sits in his room at 7 Jantar Mantar, perplexed, battling a strange sense of guilt. For the past few months, he has been mediating a backroom dialogue between the Government of India and the CPI(Maoist). Since May 2010, Agnivesh had facilitated the exchange of two letters between the warring parties. On June 26, he dispatched a third letter to top Maoist leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad. “The peace process was at a critical juncture. A very positive response was expected,”

Agnivesh told TEHELKA. “I was to receive a date from which talks could begin.” Much to his horror, what he received instead was news that Azad — the receipent of his letter — had been killed in the forests of Andhra Pradesh. “It is possible that Azad let his guard down because of my last letter,” Agnivesh said. “It is a great loss for all of us, including the government. Azad was a key person and most favourably disposed to the peace process. We must ensure that his death does not derail the possibility of peace.”

PTI, Jul 7, 2010

KOLKATA: The killing of Maoist politburo member Azad alias Cherukuri Rajkumar on July 2 was a "serious blow" to peace talks, Swami Agnivesh, who is mediating between the Maoists and the Centre, said on Wednesday.

"Azad was to negotiate the date for talks when he was killed along with a journalist Hemant Pandey. This is a serious blow to the peace process being negotiated for the last two months," Agnivesh told a press conference here.

Reiterating his demand for a judicial inquiry into Azad's death, the social activist said, "I am not in a position to say whether it was a fake encounter or not, but I can say that Azad's death has created an environment of distrust among Maoists and it is the duty of the government create a healthy atmosphere again."

NEW DELHI: As India inches closer to finalising the purchase of 126 fighter aircraft, the US has offered India top of the line defence weapon systems.

The Pentagon has said that three agreements that are currently being negotiated between India and the US would allow the country to share key American technologies. “Pentagon is working with India to put three foundational agreements in place with New Delhi that would allow American frontline technologies to be shared with the country,” top Pentagon official Michele Flournoy was quoted as saying.

Her comments come as India is in the final stages of finalising the $10 billion deal to buy 126 fighter aircrafts. US companies Boeing with its F-18 super hornet and Lockheed Martin with its F-16 fighting Falcons are among the bidders for the contract. Making a strong pitch for awarding of the contract to the US companies, Pentagon official Michele Flournoy pushed for US solutions for India’s defence needs” and said India should opt for American fighter jets as it would pave the way for “more effective protection of mutual security interest in the future” .

HYDERABAD: Revolutionary poet P. Varavara Rao, a known Maoist sympathiser and defender, on Friday rubbished the official version of the killing of naxalite leader Azad in an encounter, and said he was actually picked up by the Andhra Pradesh police at the Sitabardi market place in Nagpur at 11 a.m. on Thursday, along with tribal leader Sahadev. “They were brought to Adilabad and shot dead in cold blood,” he told The Hindu.

Mr. Rao said Azad was to go to Dandakarayna (in the Bastar forests in Chhattisgarh) to take study classes for Maoist rebels, and his party had sent Sahadev , an adivasi leader, to pick him up at the Sitabardi market. “We do not know what happened, but that was the last appointment Azad had.” Mr. Rao apprehended that the ‘unidentified naxalite' shot dead along with Azad could be Sahadev.

ADILABAD/HYDERABAD, July 2, 2010

The Andhra Pradesh police on Friday said it had shot dead top naxalite Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad, along with an unidentified cohort, in an exchange of fire in Adilabad district, close to the State's border with Maharashtra.

The death of Azad, a member and spokesman of the Central Committee of the CPI (Maoist) and a member of the Polit Bureau, has dealt a big blow to the Maoist movement in India. He was an ideologue who had specialised in field-craft as well.

Ever since Operation Green Hunt was launched, there have been efforts by different sections of the civil society to enable a dialogue between the Indian government and the CPI(Maoist). Though several unsuccessful attempts for dialogue have been made, what is striking is that different government officials and ministers have continuously dismissed any positive response from the CPI(Maoist), as empty posturing or attempts to gain time for regrouping. In the midst of all this, Operation Green Hunt has of course continued, bringing misery to the lives of the people in the east-central forested regions of the country.

The Maoist-backed Police Santrash Birodhi Janasadharaner Committee (PSBJC) on Friday called upon the people of Jangalmahal (the forested southwestern part of West Bengal) to “boycott” the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the Jnaneswari Express derailment case.

This follows the CBI declaring the outfit's spokesperson Asit Mahato one of the key conspirators in the derailment plan.

Meanwhile, the bandh called by the PSBJC in the Paschim Medinipur, Bankura and Purulia districts partially affected normal life, mainly in the forest fringe areas, with shops, schools and offices remaining closed and vehicles staying off the road.

The bandh was called in protest against the arrest of 13 persons, including three city-based “intellectuals,” from Mathurapur village of the Salboni block in Paschim Medinipur on June 15.

Mohua Chatterjee, TNN, Jun 9, 2010,

NEW DELHI: The CPI (Maoist) has denied that the party or even its fringe group PCAPA had anything to do with the Jnaneswari Express derailment in Jhargram. It said it would take stringent action if the party's central leadership found any of its members involved with the mishap. The party also gave an assurance that there would be no attacks on trains in future.

In the first official statement on the train accident for which the Maoists were blamed, party spokesperson Azad denied involvement in the incident that killed over 150 civilians. Condemning the act, the party statement dated June 1 said, "The removal of panroles on the railway track near Jhargram in West Bengal leading to the accident of Kurla-bound Jnaneswari Express and consequent deaths of 150 innocent civilians and injuries to over 200 passengers is highly condemnable."

By Rajesh Sinha

Naxalism is only one – and an extreme – reaction to what is happening, and being done, to the people in these areas. Despite talk of development and the arguments about Naxalism being a hurdle to it, the actual situation on the ground gives the lie to government's claims. 

Take the example of Forest Rights Act, as "The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006" is commonly called. Touted as a shining example of government's 'aam aadmi' oriented approach, the Forest Rights Act (FRA) aims to restore the rights of forest-dwelling communities to land and other resources which were denied to them under the continuing colonial forest laws which do not take into account the ways of life of tribal communities. It provides for recognition of individual family rights over land it traditionally used which was treated as "encroachment," as well as community rights over land and forest, such as for grazing and forest produce. 

Over two years after the FRA came into force, a visit to Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh – two of the Naxal-affected states – showed that instead of getting the promised benefits, tribals and forest dwellers are, on the contrary, engaged in a desperate fight to save their home, hearth and source of livelihood. A large number of them face displacement as the land they have lived on for generations is in danger of being handed over to various industrial and mining companies.

New Delhi : The apex Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) that meets this Thursday to discuss and decide the Home Ministry's rejuvenated plan to deal with the Naxal issue needs to bridge the differences between the Home Ministry and the Armed Forces on the conduct of operations. Read more...