Maoists and PCPA deny involvement in train derailment

[Saorsa]

Both the CPI (Maoist) and PCAPA have denied their involvement in the Friday train derailment

by G. N. Saibaba

Yesterday's( 28 May 2010) Gnaneshwari Express and a goods train tragedy near Kharagpur in West Bengal in which 80 people were killed and 200 injured was attributed to CPI(Maoist) and Peoples Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) by the media. The media unscrupulously played false news stories blaming CPI (Maoist) and Peoples Committee for two days. Some political parties like Trinomial Congress and the ruling CPI(Marxist) also blamed these organisations without any verification. Significantly Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram has declined to attribute the blame on the CPI (Maoist) and also announced that there was no evidence of any bomb blast in the incident.

The Union Home Minister has ordered an enquiry to find out any possibility of sabotage. During the day the leaders of CPI (Maoist) clarified through a long statement that they were not responsible for the train tragedy and condemned any possible sabotage work if any force involved behind the incident. They have also expressed their condolences for the families of deceased. The PCAPA also clarified that their activists are not involved in this incident. They suspected the ruling CPI(Marxist) to have been involved in the sabotage desperately trying to tilt the public opinion against the fighting forces.

Purposefully the media did not cover the statement issued by the CPI (Maoist) while playing the false stories and commentaries blaming the CPI (Maoist) for the incident.

Some all India newspapers like The Hindu wrote editorials blaming the CPI (Maoist) for the incident. Many other newspapers wrote major articles decrying the CPI (Maoist) as terrorist attributing the blame on them. Now when the clarifications come from CPI (Maoist) and PCAPA, will these media houses withdraw their false stories and give the facts to the people? Will they regret for propagating the false news?

These two days of false propaganda is made with a malicious intension of maligning the CPI (Maoist) and PCAPA.

I attach here news reports covering the statement of clarification from the CPI (Maoist) and PCAPA by a section of newspapers in West Bengal. The same newspaper didn't cover it in their editions coming from all other cities.



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Statement on Train(Jnaneswari Express) accident by the Maoists

The following report was published in the Bengali Ananda Bazar Patrike dt. 29 May 2010, page 7, Kolkata edition. It bore the caption 'Denying allegations about their involvement, the Maoists demand enquiry' and written by Prasun Acharyya. The statement was issued in the name of Aakash, the Maoist WB State Committee leader.

On Friday night, the following statement was issued on behalf of the CPI(Maoist) WB State Committee. "We are in no way involved in this incident. We did not carry out any explosion in the railway line. Killing innocent people by sabotaging railway line is not our agenda. When we carry out any action, there are always some specific reasons behind. We also acknowledge responsibility for that. Whenever we commit mistakes we admit it. However, responsibility is being placed on us now for an incident in which we are in no way involved". Accusing the CPI(Marxist) of putting blame on them the Maoists said "The CPI(M) is haunted by the prospect of a landslide defeat in the coming municipal elections. Thus they have opted for a strategy of killing two birds with a single stone. On the one hand, attempts are being made to brand us as terrorists and thus isolate us from the people. On the other hand, they are seeking to prove that Mamata Banerjee is completely misfit as the railway minister". The Maoists did not directly state that the CPI(M) was involved in the incident. But what they said is: "In the coming days also such unfortunate incidents can take place in order to malign Mamata and the Maoists". The WB State Committee of the Maoists strongly condemned this act and stated: "This act deserves unequivocal condemnation. We are extending our sympathies to the members of the bereaved families. We also wish the speedy recovery of those who are injured".



Meanwhile, the People's Committee Against Police Atrocities has accused the CPI(M) of being involved in it. In reply to a query, the Maoists said: "We are not accountable for whatever one might say. We are not saying that the CPI(M) was involved in it. Let the railways make enquiry. The members of our party have made investigation after the incident. It was the removal of fish plates that led to the accident. There was no line for one metre stretch, side-clips were open. That led to derailment. Let the railways enquiry why side clips were open at the junction points of rail lines. No explosion took place at the site. Had there been any explosion, stones would have broken up and thrown out. But nothing like it happened".



The Maoists said that whenever any untoward incident takes place along the railway route, the tendency is always to accuse them for such incidents. "Three days back, eleven bogies of the New Delhi -Gwahati Rajdhani Express were derailed near Naogachhia Station in Bihar. It was not a major accident. However, initially the blame was put on us. Later on, it was found that it was the fault of the railways that led to such a mishap".



Even though the Maoists claim not to have directed any attack on the innocent people, why did they carry put land mine explosion in a passenger bus at Dantewada? The statement reads follows: "Special Pollce Officers(SPOs) and the CRPF were travelling in that bus. We have told people in Chhattisgarh time and again not to travel in the same bus along with the police and CRPF personnel. But it was the state government which had forced the common people to travel along with the police in the same bus. That is why common people also died along with the police".



The Maoists accepted responsibility for the Dantewada incident; but not for this mishap. "We are not involved in the Sardiha incident, so we take no responsibility of it", the Maoist statement said.



The Hindustan Times dt. 29 May 2010 carried only a brief statement from the Maoists: "Killing innocent civilians is not on our agenda. We have no links with this tragic incident, and we sympathise with the families of the deceased and the injured". Akash, Member, CPI(Maoist) State Committee, West Bengal.





'Not We, CPI(M) is to blame'


Both the CPI(Maoist) and PCAPA have denied their involvement in the Friday train derailment of the Maharashtra-bound Gyaneshwar Express, and condemned it as an act of criminal conspiracy on part of the ruling CPI(M), as reported by the Bengali daily Sangbad Pratidin, 29 May).

The statement by CPI(Maoist) state committee secretary, Kanchan, says, "This incident is against the line practised by our Party. We are not involved in it. CPI(M) and Police have jointly conspired to effect it."

Confirming it, Com Khokan representing the State Committee leader Akash of CPI(Maoist) said, "We are not at all involved in this incident. We do not kill innocent people. Fearing losing its rule, this is a ploy by CPI(M) to kill two birds with one stone. To paint the Maoists as terrorists and to declare the Railway minister, Mamata Banerjee as incapable. Even before this when the Rajdhani met with an accident, the State government pointed the finger on us. Our State Committee fully condemns this act. We share the pain with the families of the deceased and stand by them in this hour of grief."

The PCAPA has also denied its involvement with the incident, and declared it as an act of sabotage by the ruling CPI(M). Its leader, Asit Mahato said, "We are not involved with this incident. CPI(M) is directly involved in it, and writing posters in our name and planting the same on the site, is trying to put the blame on us."

Meanwhile the student union, USDF, leader Soumya Mandal also said, "Whether this incident is a handiwork of the CPI(M) or the Maoists, we completely condemn it. We offer our condolences to the families of the deceased and demand a comprehensive inquiry into the incident."

[NaxalbariZindabad]

Scavenging Consent: Desperate For Casus Belli
By Trevor Selvam
29 May, 2010
Countercurrents.org

First, the Ms. Quasimodo of Bengal and Indian politics, Mamata Banerjee announces that it was a “bomb blast” with great bombast. Then, Bhupinder Singh, the Police IG and KPSGill-wannabee (who had earlier smeared and lied about Chatradhar Mahato’s insurance, property etc and never bothered to retract anything) says that two posters were found proving that the Maoist PCAPA had taken “responsibility ”for the train disaster. The two posters, it turned out, merely stated the intent of the local PCAPA the reasons for their on-going struggles. Ms. Bomberjee also claimed that a pilot vehicle had passed by just before. She did not state how “before” it was. One hour, two hours, five hours, one day? After the entire place is “infested” with Maoists. Is it not?

Now the tone is changing gradually. A foot and half of fish-plates were found removed. A BBC cameraman has displayed the gap in one of their broadcasts. No evidence of a blast any longer. No evidence of gelatine, dynamite, ammonium nitrate. The foreign press had already expressed some caution, in their statements and terminology. But not the Indian press. They are so free, unfettered and dynamic when it comes to spreading innuendo!

The Maoists have officially stated that they had nothing to do with the incident to BBC and other reporters. There are now reports that the government has toned down its mischievous rhetoric and has stated that “Maoist involvement cannot be ruled out.” After the damage has been done, and abuse is proliferating the email bandwidth, some sobriety is slowly emerging, but only in back-door doses. This was a prime opportunity to “false flag” the incident into a Maoist carnage scorecard or tally sheet, which as Indian we love to read over and over and get spasmodic about. After all, this is “Maoist-infested” area. The vermin had declared a 48 hour bandh just a few days ago, is it not? And in the weeks before they had blown up the bus with a roof-load of uniformed Police Officers (a fact that until now was suppressed, that all on the roof were policemen, and the news about the civilians inside the bus was emphasized repeatedly). The civilian bus incident has done some damage to the Naxalite-Maoist image no doubt, but the real truth about the incident took a while to emerge and it is now also appearing that some of the civilians were also locals who had applied for SPO positions and were still in civvies. What other opportunity than this rail incident to nail the Maoists down?

Let’s cut to the chase with some questions:-

1) Does the state really think that the Maoists are intellectually so handicapped that they would blow up a train and kill civilians to further their revolutionary cause, especially after the extraordinary media savvy-ness they have displayed lately? Because if that is their estimation of the Maoists’ intelligence, the cause of the Indian state is already doomed.

2) Does the media and the government really believe that the Maoist squads will engage in terrorism against innocent civilians to get public support? Is it not true that self-appointed Indian experts of counter-insurgency strategy have repeatedly declared that the Maoists are no longer a rag-tag band of roving rebels, but a highly disciplined and technically somewhat advanced formation?

3) Does the media question why the train was travelling at break neck speed at night, whereas instructions have been repeatedly issued to go slow through “insurgent” territory, especially right after a Bandh?

4) Does the media understand that the PCAPA operates openly and with down to earth simplicity (please read their last two letters to the APDR—they read like a hundred year old passage from the time of the Santhal revolts), with published addresses and telephone numbers (even though they are understandably “underground” since their last President was assassinated in front of his family and the matter is practically forgotten by Mr. Perfidy himself –PCC)? Why would they carry out such an attack, since their only demands are stemming strictly from a tribal sense of justice? Has everyone forgotten their original demand that the Police hold their ears and apologize in Lalgarh for what they did—that was all that they wanted?

5) Does the media understand that fishplates have been removed before during a rail-roko and openly so, and announced to the media to ensure that a bandh is maintained? That after such a bandh, the rail authorities must recheck the lines as is always and routinely done in all countries of the world?

6) Does the media ever ask the question, that in a typical Indian rural (or even semi –urban setting) there are hordes of fringe elements, looters, free-lancers, half politicized riff-raff who indulge in lumpenism that borders on luddite outrage?

7) Why don’t the media ask the Maoist leaders (with whom they are having constant conversations) why they are unable to control ALL the people in their “territories”” of control? That would be a test of their mass organizational skills, would n’t that?

8) Does the media ever ask, whether there could actually be a foreign hand? I mean, like there was a foreign hand in blowing up the Air India Kashmir Princess during the days of the Bandung Conference in 1955? Do the swashbuckling Indian journalist starlets know that a Kuomintang deployed engineering technician team serviced the plane in Hong Kong and when this team was tracked down, the CIA flew them over to Formosa and they disappeared forever from the scene? Intrigue can be pretty sophisticated in India these days.

What is it that makes Indian journalists/reporters rush to judgement, arrive at hasty conclusions and choose terminology that is already prejudiced about the outcome? The answer is simple--because laziness, irresponsibility and tabloidism is encouraged in Indian media.

Why do newscasters emphasize words like “massacre, terror, murder, barbarity, gruesome attack, sabotage, carnage, death cult, inhuman terror, ” in describing suspected Maoist attacks, whereas massive evidence of police attacks, rampage through village communities, “encounter” killings, acts of mass rape, forced displacement by Selwa Judum and SPOs, burning of peasant and tribal huts and homes of minorities, cutting of breasts of 80 year old women and fingers of two year old children not reported as genocidal, maniacal, psychotic? Why is it not reported that already since Operation Green Hunt over 200 civilians have been killed by government forces and promptly declared as Maoists? Why do reporters not follow the nearly clichéd approach of innocent until proven guilty? Why do Indian journalists not display an iota of investigative acumen when they start blabbing about an incident? Why don’t they take some time out and go back to educating themselves on the basic principles of reporting the facts and not hearsay, repeating police officer and IAS chatter instead of what aloof bystanders have to say? Why do they parrot those who talk the most, and are ready with press conferences as soon as an incident is reported, instead of talking to those who shy away from the camera and avoid the public gaze?

The answer is very simple. Indian journalism has so far resided in a nebulous comfort zone of non-democracy and pre-capitalist formation, despite all the hardware and verbiage that they have mastered so well. Whereas litigiousness is a product of advanced capitalism, where the sue-r wants to make sure that the sue-d has the bank balance that can be extracted, in a pre-capitalist society there is no such concern; irresponsibility, chicanery, grandstanding, stagecraft and sensation- mongering passes off as “journalism.” Collating data from others and rushing out reportage to make the editor’s need to make it to the wire before others is a prime consideration. News syndicates are constantly dishing out hearsay as news.

Indian journalism is not an upholder of genuine democracy in the thought processes. Because the democratic process, itself, is not understood. Root cause analysis of incidents is not initiated. In fact the removed fish plate is not the end of the investigation. How was it removed? Who in the village has the wrenches and spanners to remove the parts? Were any loose parts found nearby? Do the railways have special tools to unbolt and re-bolt the fishplates? Has a search been conducted of the missing fish plates? Meanwhile, one hundred civilians have perished and manipulative propaganda is being carried out for political reasons?

As we write this article, word is coming out that the “convincing” evidence of North Korea torpedoing the South Korean Naval vessel, in which over 40 sailors died, is not that convincing anymore. Reports have appeared in Japan, in China, in Australia that the explosive traces found on the sunken vessel indicate evidence of very advanced magnet-guided rising-type submerged mining technology. That a team of US divers were exercising with the same type of mines in the same area in joint exercises with the South Korean Navy, some weeks before. That this particular relatively secluded seaway has never seen North Korean incursions. That the North Koreans do not possess such weaponry. That North Koreans, despite their frequent hot and cold and belligerent behaviour, could not have carried out the attack.

The question that one must ask is who would benefit the most, at this time from such a rail accident? Which party, which government, which organization? Who has already demonstrated the ability in India to stage false flag incidents to blame “foreign” and minority communities? The Naxalites, by the way, own up to what they do.

Meanwhile, two persons have repeatedly shown abject inability to conduct their portfolios with a minimum degree of finesse. Mamata Banerjee and PC Chidambaram. Why is the media not asking for their resignation? In any other democratic country, these two would have been history, by now.

http://countercurrents.org/selvam290510.htm

[NaxalbariZindabad]

The Second Statement from CPI (Maoist) on the Train Accident


(Note: In view of the train accident that took the lives of more than a hundred passengers and left many more injured who had been travelling by Gnaneswari Express, the railways have been contemplating of postponing train services along that route at night and re-schedule its timings accordingly. In response, the CPI(Maoist) has issued a statement on 29 May 2010 that came out in a Bengali daily Ananda Bazar Patrika published from Kolkata. It was published on 30 May 30, 2010 under the caption 'The Maoists ask the railways to ply trains without fear' in page 7.)


"We were not involved in the sabotage in the railway line. Still we are being falsely implicated in it."


CPI (Maoist) tells the Indian rail authorities to ply their trains

Let the railway authorities ply their trains on schedule. There is nothing to fear. On Saturday, on behalf of the State Committee of the CPI (Maoist), Aakash issued this statement to the press. "We were not involved in the sabotage in the railway line. Still we are being falsely implicated in it. There is no need to stop railway service on the plea of Maoist sabotage. Let the rail authorities ply their trains. Nothing (no harm) will be done from our side".

The Maoists stated: We gave a call for organizing a 'Black Period' from 23 May to 2 June; it was not directed against the railways. Besides price rise and operation by the security forces, it was also directed against the central government policy of selling out shares of public sector undertakings, taking US assistance for the defence sector and the creation of special economic zones. Our aim was to make propaganda and create awareness on these issues among the people. Wearing black badges, organizing processions comprise part of our programme, but there was nothing against the railways. The Maoists claimed: "Whenever there is any programme against the railways or a call for stopping railway services, there is a formal notification much before that date".

Aakash said: "We do not know who were involved in the incident. But what we do know is that on that very day, the security forces along with the CPI(M) cadres carried out operation in 32 villages under Manikpara and Kotwali police station areas. Houses were broken. Women were tortured, giving rise to much popular anger and discontent." Discarding the demand for investigation by the WB government-controlled CID and the central government-controlled CBI, the Maoists stated: "Both are biased. So we would welcome a neutral investigation team comprising intellectuals, scientists, engineers and unofficial experts. Let them find out who had done the sabotage and why. We want an independent investigation. We want the truth to come out".

The Sunday Hindustan Times carried only a brief portion of the statement its Kolkata edition on 30 May 2010 under the caption "Maoists now want independent probe". The report reads as follows: "Maoists on Saturday once again denied having any hand in the tragedy. Akash, a CPI(Maoist) state committee member, told HT over phone from an undisclosed location that the outfit would welcome probe by an "independent group of intellectuals".
http://www.icawpi.org/en/peoples-resistance/statements/470-the-second-statement-from-cpi-maoist-on-the-train-accident

[vampire squid]

since i cant post links, here are the relevant parts from this TIME magazine article - Who Was Really Behind India's Terrorist Derailment?

Within hours, the state police chief blamed the attack on Maoist guerrillas who are waging an armed uprising against the Indian state in the name of the rural poor. The alleged act of sabotage fell on the first day of a "black week" called by the Maoists to condemn what they describe as "atrocities against villages" and to stop the government's armed offensive against them. West Midnapore has already been a theater of that conflict. Just a few kilometers away from the railway disaster, the Maoist guerrillas raided an Indian paramilitary camp in February, killing 24 policemen.

But now intelligence officials in both Kolkata and New Delhi tell TIME that, working closely with investigators, they are in possession of "substantial evidence, including tapped telephone conversations" linking the attack not to the central Maoist organization but to two leaders of the People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA), a tribal militia formed in West Midnapore protesting against alleged police atrocities. The group has been locked in an intense and often violent political fight against the state government over the acquisition of farmland for new industrial projects. Intelligence officials say two leaders of the PCPA — Umakanto Mahato and Bapi Mahato — carried out the attack along with 15 to 20 other militia members.

This has put the Maoists on the defensive. The Maoists' organization is separate from the PCPA, but it has used the group's strong popular base among the tribal population to spread its influence in the region. Soon after the derailment, the Maoists issued a statement denying involvement. "It is not the Maoist policy to attack civilians," said a Maoist spokesperson who goes by the alias Akash, who spoke to TIME from an undisclosed location in eastern India. "Please read our party documents carefully. We are not behind the railway attack. And we will soon hold a public court to punish the guilty." Another Maoist spokesperson from the region, Sunil, told TIME they would "guard trains passing through the area" to prove their innocence.

Even a senior intelligence official in charge of anti-Maoist operations says it looks "very unlikely" that the Maoist leadership ordered the attack. Trains have been a frequent target of other acknowledged attacks by the Maoist insurgents. But in most of those cases, the Maoists have targeted nonpassenger trains or disrupted service by blowing up tracks well ahead of an oncoming train. "It's their policy not to cause any inconvenience to the masses," the intelligence official says. "The CPI-Maoist politburo will never accept this."

Asit Mahato, a spokesman for the PCPA, denies responsibility, countering that flip-flops by the police indicate that "they are trying to hide something. Something which might be harmful to the government. They have blamed Bapi Mahato, but he is not even a member of the PCPA. Please ask the police to provide proof that he is a PCPA member."