Maoist ambush on Cong convoy kills 27

[ind_com]

Chhattisgarh: Maoist ambush on Cong convoy kills 27; state party chief, son found dead

The bullet-riddled bodies of Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and his son Dinesh were on Sunday morning found along with those of eight others in Jiram valley in Bastar.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/images/2013/5/2c0989cf-e1ae-4896-92ca-ddda7ca3a749hires.jpg

Former Union minister Vidya Charan Shukla was injured, Mahendra Karma was killed and PCC chief Nand Kumar Patel kidnapped in a Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh. PTI/TV Grab (Times Now)

An injured person being hospitalised after Naxals attacked Congress rally in Chhattisgarh. PTI Photo

A spot view of the Naxal attack in which a senior Congress leader was killed and others were injured and kidnapped in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh on Saturday. PTI Photo/TV ...

Grieving relatives of an injured at a hospital in Raipur after the Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh on Saturday. PTI Photo

An injured being treated at Ramkrishna Hospital in Raipur after Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh on Saturday. PTI Photo

View outside the hospital in Raipur after the Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh on Saturday. Naxals opened fire on the Congress party's Parivartan Yatra, comprising senior party leaders, in Sukma district,Chhattisgarh. ...

With the recovery of the bodies, the toll in the suspected rebel attack on a convoy of Congress leaders on Saturday has climbed to 27, police sources said.

32 people have been injured in the attack, DGP Ram Niwas said today.

The bodies of Patel, his son Dinesh and eight others, mainly security personnel, have been recovered from Jiram valley in Bastar division, the sources said.

With more bodies found after the deadly Maoist ambush on a convoy of vehicles carrying state Congress leaders and workers, the casualty figure is likely to rise further. Several were critically injured. Some congressmen who were missing returned to Jagdalpur on Sunday.

On Saturday, a deadly Maoist ambush on a convoy of vehicles carrying state Congress leaders and workers in Chhattisgarh killed at least 27 people and left several others critically wounded, police and survivors of the attack said.

Most of the dead and injured were Congress leaders and workers and four to five of those killed in the attack were personal security officers of the Congress leaders.

The dead included four state Congress leaders, Chhattisgarh Congress president Nand Kumar Patel, former opposition leader Mahendra Karma, former parliamentarian Gopal Madhavan and ex-MLA Uday Mudliyar, while party veteran and former union minister Vidya Charan Shukla was among the injured.

Karma who had been on the rebels' hit list for some time. He had been a home minister in the state and last represented the Congress in the Chhattisgarh assembly as the opposition leader.

The suspected rebels attacked the convoy as it passed through the Darbha valley, a densely forested track of Sukma district, about 340 kilometres south of Raipur, the state's capital. The convoy was returning from a rally organised as part of the Congress party's pre-election campaign - Parivartan Yatra. Chhattisgarh goes to elections later this year.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described it as a "dastardly attack" that came after more than a year of relative lull in Maoist violence and pointed to possible attempts by the rebels to stage new offensives.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi flew to Chhattisgarh capital Raipur by a special aircraft late in the night to meet those injured in the incident.

The rebels triggered a powerful blast to blow up the second vehicle of the convoy and followed up with indiscriminate firing. In the hour-long gunfight that ensued, at least 27 people were killed and several others were wounded, said MA Ganpathy, joint secretary in the Union home ministry in New Delhi.

A PTI report said the attackers, numbering about 100-150, peppered Karma's body with bullets.

In New Delhi, the prime minister ordered the home ministry to dispatch more than 600 paramilitary personnel, including elite CoBRA anti-Maoist commandos, to sanitise and take control of the site of Saturday's attack in Chhattisgarh. An air ambulance was being sent to Chhattisgarh to bring back the injured for treatment to Delhi.

"I have spoken to the chief minister of the state and urged him to provide all possible assistance to those who have been injured and to ensure the security and safety of those who have been abducted," said Singh, who also had a meeting with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and party Vice President Rahul Gandhi.

Chhattisgarh is among the state worst-affected by Maoist violence and large parts of it are under the control of the extremists.

In 2012, the state accounted for half of all Maoist attacks on police personnel in the Red Corridor that includes Jharkhand, Odisha, Maharashtra and several parts of Bihar.

(With inputs from Agencies)

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Chhattisgarh/Chhattisgarh-Maoist-ambush-on-Cong-convoy-kills-27-state-party-chief-son-found-dead/Article1-1065894.aspx

[ind_com]

Karma founded two anti-Maoist movements

RAIPUR: Congress leader Mahendra Karma (62) was known as 'Bastar tiger', having founded two major anti-Maoist movements in Chhattisgarh -- SalwaJudum in 2005 and the Jan JagaranAbhiyan in the mid-1990s.

Of the two, Salwa Judum has been the most controversial and led to bloodbath in Bastar with the rebels targeting those who supported the movement and the vigilante groups attacking those who opposed them. Salwa Judum is blamed for human rights abuses and the killing of many including innocent people.

Karma, who was the leader of the opposition in Chhattisgarh from 2003 to 2008, led the movement from the front and was on top of the Maoist hit list. He had survived several attempts on his life with the latest being on November 8, 2012 when Maoists triggered a powerful landmine blast targeting his vehicle.

But Karma, who represented Bastar in Lok Sabha and Dantewada in the state assembly, had vowed to continue his struggle to wipe out Naxalism from the region saying the movement had ruined lives.

Karma started his political career with the communist Party of India before joining the Congress. He served as Chhattisgarh's industry and commerce in Ajit Jogi's cabinet after the formation of the state in 2000. But he was known as Jogi's political adversary.

Major Maoist attacks

Jan 9, 2013: 16 CRPF jawans killed in an attack in Jharkhand's Latehar

Jan 21, 2012: 13 policemen killed in a landmine blast near the jungles of Bariganwa in Jharkhand's Garhwa

May 28, 2010: At least 65 killed and hundreds injured after Maoists derail train in West Bengal

May 17, 2010: Maoists blew up a bus killing at least 40 persons, including several Special Police Officers, in Dantewada

Apr 6, 2010: 76 CRPF personnel killed in the deadliest attack yet on security forces in Dantewada

Feb 15, 2010: At least 24 personnel, mostly belonging to Eastern Frontier Rifles, killed in attack on EFR camp at Silda, West Bengal

June 29, 2008: 31 policemen, mostly from anti-Naxal Greyhounds force of Andhra Pradesh and 4 paramilitary members, killed in attack on motorized boat in Malkangiri, Orissa

Jul 9, 2007: 16 CRPF men, 8 cops from Chhattisgarh and 1 civilian killed in attack by Maoists in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh

Mar 15, 2007: 55 killed in armed attack and bombings in Bijapur, Chhattisgarh

Apr 8, 2004: 19 Jharkhand Armed Police personnel and 9 CRPF men killed by landmines in Chaibasa, Jharkhand

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Karma-founded-two-anti-Maoist-movements/articleshow/20268124.cms

[ind_com]

CPI condemns Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh

CPI on Sunday condemned the killing of 27 people in a Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh, saying that violence and killings do not have a place in democracy.

“We firmly disapprove the violence and killings to gain political power in a democratic country,” CPI National Secretary D.Raja said.

Referring to the Salwa Judum movement, he said “Maoists must not resort to the politics of vendetta and revenge killings“.

While offering condolences to the bereaved families, he also appealed to all sections of people to maintain peace.

Heavily-armed Maoists ambushed a convoy of Congress leaders in Chattisgarh’s Bastar district on today, killing 27 people including senior Congress leader Mahendra Karma, and injuring 32 others.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/cpi-condemns-maoist-attack-in-chhattisgarh/article4752775.ece

[Skyhilist]

Some of this shit is just stupid. Derailing a train? How the fuck is that going to lead to socialism. I lot of this is just terrorism that ends up killing innocents who've done nothing wrong, and it makes it all too easy for the bourgeois media to say "look communists enjoy killing innocents, women, children, etc."

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

I am not familiar with the circumstances of the train derailing - we are never told who was on the train, for all we know it could have been a company of Indian soldiers - but the attacks are clearly part of the Maoist strategy of people's war. I have my misgivings about this strategy, but it's a bit more complex than "they kill people so we must oppose them".


CPI on Sunday condemned the killing of 27 people in a Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh, saying that violence and killings do not have a place in democracy.

“We firmly disapprove the violence and killings to gain political power in a democratic country,” CPI National Secretary D.Raja said.

These people should have their c-word privileges revoked.

[Skyhilist]

I am not familiar with the circumstances of the train derailing - we are never told who was on the train, for all we know it could have been a company of Indian soldiers - but the attacks are clearly part of the Maoist strategy of people's war. I have my misgivings about this strategy, but it's a bit more complex than "they kill people so we must oppose them".



These people should have their c-word privileges revoked.

I highly doubt there weren't plenty of civilians in the 150+ who were wounded or killed. But even if there weren't, so many civilians (not talking about cops) including children have been killed by some of these attacks. Seriously capitalist power structures aren't weakened by just blowing random shit up.

[ind_com]

I am not familiar with the circumstances of the train derailing - we are never told who was on the train, for all we know it could have been a company of Indian soldiers - but the attacks are clearly part of the Maoist strategy of people's war. I have my misgivings about this strategy, but it's a bit more complex than "they kill people so we must oppose them".

The train was a passenger train. But the derailing was not done by Maoists or any other mass organization. It was an action by the ruling-class parties to defame Maoists. It is repeated as anti-Maoist propaganda to this day without any concrete proof by those who want to defame the revolution.

[Skyhilist]

The train was a passenger train. But the derailing was not done by Maoists or any other mass organization. It was an action by the ruling-class parties to defame Maoists. It is repeated as anti-Maoist propaganda to this day without any concrete proof by those who want to defame the revolution.

Why did you include it in your own list of "major Maoist attacks" then (2nd post in this thread)?

Also, can you explain how shit like this accomplishes anything?: http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/19/stories/2010021959220100.htm

[ind_com]

Why did you include it in your own list of "major Maoist attacks" then (2nd post in this thread)?

Please read my posts completely before commenting. The list and the report was that of Time Of India, not mine. I posted the report because it was related to yesterday's incident.


Also, can you explain how shit like this accomplishes anything?: http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/19/stories/2010021959220100.htm

I don't know about that action in details, but it was directed against a local right-wing militia after it collaborated with the police and killed eight Maoists some time earlier. The militia had also been involved in the arrest of Maoists earlier. The death of the child who was probably caught in the crossfire, is tragic.

[ind_com]

SuspecSuspected Indian Maoist rebels kill 19 in Congress convoy ambushted Indian Maoist rebels kill 19 in Congress convoy ambush

(Reuters) - Suspected Maoist rebels killed at least 19 people when they ambushed a convoy carrying regional leaders from India's ruling Congress party in dense forest on Saturday, officials said, one of the deadliest such attacks in recent years.

The rebels felled trees to block the 20-car convoy in the eastern state of Chhattisgarh and then detonated a landmine and raked the vehicles with gunfire, Indian media reported.

Among those killed was Mahendra Karma, a senior Congress leader from Chhattisgarh who founded an anti-Maoist group and was believed to be the main target of the attack. The state's Congress party leader and his son were also killed.

Senior Chhattisgarh police official Mukesh Gupta told Reuters by telephone six policemen were among the dead and that 35 people were also wounded in the ambush.

Police had earlier put the death toll as high as 27 but that had been revised down, Gupta said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the attack and said his government would take firm action. Singh, who flew to Chhattisgarh with Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi on Sunday, has called the Maoists the greatest domestic threat to India.

The rebels, also known as Naxals, have fought for decades in a wide swathe of central and eastern India, including many resource-rich regions where tensions run high between poor farmers and industrial developers.

They are estimated to number between 6,000 and 8,000 hardcore fighters in nearly a third of India's 630 districts. While they have made few inroads into cities, they have spread into rural pockets in 20 of 28 states.

Maoists say they are fighting for the rights of poor farmers and landless laborers. Thousands have been killed in the insurgency since the late 1960s.

In the worst previous Maoist attack, an ambush by hundreds of rebels killed 75 policemen in Chhattisgarh in 2010.

Television reports said scores of rebels trapped the convoy in a forest in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, about 340 km (210 miles) south of the state capital Raipur, on Saturday. The Congress politicians had been returning from a rally.

"When our cars reached a turning point, the Naxals started firing. Two cars were blown up and the firing continued for almost one-and-a-half hours," NDTV quoted an injured Congress party worker as saying from hospital.

(Writing by Ross Colvin; Editing by Paul Tait)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/26/us-india-maoist-violence-idUSBRE94P03920130526

[ind_com]

Maoist attack: Sonia appreciates courage of Congress leaders

RAIPUR: Appreciating the courage of Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi today said the "cowardly" Maoist strike was not an attack on the Congress or its leaders but on democratic values.

"I appreciate the courage and bravery of the leaders who inspite of several adversities, took a step and went there," she said addressing party workers at the Congress Bhawan here after visiting the injured in hospital.

"This is a cowardly act on the part of Maoists. It is not an attack on Congress or its leaders, but an attack on democratic values," she said while expressing grief and anguish over the Naxal attack.

The attack is a "challenge for us," she said and added that people have seen that leaders have faced challenges and sacrificed their lives.

Heavily-armed Maoists ambushed a convoy of Congress leaders in Chattisgarh's Sukma district yesterday, killing 27 people including senior Congress leader Mahendra Karma, state party chief Nand Kumar Patel and injuring senior leader V C Shukla and 31 others.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Maoist-attack-Sonia-appreciates-courage-of-Congress-leaders/articleshow/20272973.cms

[Beeth]

Indian politicians, regardless of party or ideology, are some of the world's worst terrorists. Their policies 'terrorize' all sections of the population - the poor and oppressed, certainly, but also the well-off. The only people who get away is the very rich and privileged. Rising taxes and prices, draconian laws to target minorities (in the name of war on terror), zero social or welfare programs, utter contempt for the poor, zero development (bad roads, no clean drinking water, no proper sanitation system) etc.

Indian politicians aren't just corrupt and plunder a lot of wealth - their policies result in farmers' suicide regularly, human rights abuses, police brutality, and so on.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Some good news from India, congrats to the Naxalite comrades there.

[RedHal]

Some of this shit is just stupid. Derailing a train? How the fuck is that going to lead to socialism. I lot of this is just terrorism that ends up killing innocents who've done nothing wrong, and it makes it all too easy for the bourgeois media to say "look communists enjoy killing innocents, women, children, etc."

1st world liberalism masking as leftist critique. Go read some Arundhati Roy articles regarding Indian Maoist violence. Violence might upset you, but like it or not, the Maoists are the only force protecting the rights of the most oppressed advasi villages against abuses by the state and corporate takeover of their lands.

Yet, I'm sure these same people get a hard on for pics of Black Panthers carrying guns, I guess as long as they don't start using them, they're cool.

[ind_com]

Barbaric Maoist Attack Condemned

May 26, 2013

Press Statement

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the barbaric attack by the Maoists on a convoy carrying Congress leaders participating in the ‘parivartan yatra’ of the party in Bastar district of Chattisgarh. The attack has led to the death of 18 people including senior Congress leaders like the state Congress President and injuries to several others. This is the latest and most shocking example of the politics of violence and terror practiced by the Maoists against all their political opponents.

The Chattisgarh government is answerable for the reported lack of security arrangements for the yatra. On the one hand the BJP government allows the killing of innocent tribals as happened last week in the name of fighting the Maoists and on the other hand it utterly fails to protect legitimate democratic activities in the state.

The CPI(M) extends its condolences to the families of all those killed. It demands a high level enquiry into the incident. It also demands firm action to be taken to stop these Maoists depredations. It calls upon all democratic forces to fight the politics of violence by the Maoists.

http://cpim.org/content/barbaric-maoist-attack-condemned

[ind_com]

Maoist attack: Shocked leaders resolve to combat extremism

NEW DELHI/RAIPUR: A shocked India on Sunday condemned the attack on Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh that left nearly 30 people dead, including the party's state chief and the founder of "Salwa Judum", and asserted that such attacks will not intimidate the country or affect its resolve to fight extremism.

The central home ministry has sought a detailed report from the Chhattisgarh government on the Saturday evening incident in which a large number of Maoists attacked a Congress convoy, official sources said Sunday. The state is scheduled to have assembly elections by the year-end.

This was the biggest attack in the sprawling central Indian state since April 6, 2010, when about 75 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and a state police personnel were killed in Mukrana forests of Dantewada district.

Combing operations were launched in the Darbha Ghati area, 35km from Sukma town, in the restive Bastar region, where the attack took place.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who flew into Raipur with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, reviewed the situation with chief minister Raman Singh and offered all help to the state in tackling the left-wing ultras.

Expressing shock at the attack, President Pranab Mukherjee said the country would not be "intimidated" by such acts.

"I am deeply dismayed and shocked at the wanton violence unleashed by Maoists. I condemn this incident in the strongest of terms and would like to reiterate that violence has no place whatsoever in our democratic polity," he said.

"The nation will neither be overawed nor intimidated by such action," he added.

Vice-President Hamid Ansari said extremism and violence have to be fought and eliminated.

In Raipur, the Prime Minister and Congress chief met the injured and families of the dead.

"We have to be more determined in fighting Naxal (Maoist) extremism. These lives should not go in vain," said Manmohan Singh. "This incident should be treated as an inspiration in our fight against forces of extremism and violence."

"This is a cowardly act. It is not an attack on Congress or its leaders but an attack on democratic values," Sonia Gandhi told party workers.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who had reached Chhattisgarh earlier, termed the incident "an attack on the idea of our country".

Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi paid tributes to the bodies of state unit chief Nand Kumar Patel and his son Dinesh Patel, who died in the attack. According to a survivor, the two were taken away by the Maoists into the forest and shot dead.

'Cruelty'

Recounting the Maoists' cruelty, a survivor said the rebels danced when they found that anti-Maoist Salwa Judum movement's founder Mahendra Karma was in the convoy before shooting him dead. As he fell, a rebel bayonetted him in the head.

The insurgents, it was learnt, made all the gunmen of the leaders lie on the ground and shot them in their legs one by one and asked them to run away after taking away their weapons.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in power in the state since 2003, and the Left also condemned the attack.

BJP veteran LK Advani termed the attack "one of the most audacious" and called upon everyone to "come together" to combat the Maoist challenge.

CPM leader Brinda Karat said the attack was "barbaric" and a shocking example of politics of violence and terror by the Maoists.

Activist Swami Agnivesh said Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh and governor Shekhar Dutt should be removed for their failure to provide security to people.

Raman Singh retorted by saying an elaborate strategy would be put in place to give a fitting response to Maoist insurgents.

Questioning the lack of security which they claim led to the attack on the Congress convoy in Chhattisgarh, security experts Sunday said targeting political leaders was a show of strength for the Maoists and feared that more attacks will follow.

The condition of 84-year-old Congress leader VC Shukla, who received multiple bullet injuries in the attack, continued to be "critical" in a Gurgaon hospital where he was flown in by an air ambulance.

The Prime Minister, Sonia Gandhi and Advani visited Shukla, a former Union minister.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Maoist-attack-Shocked-leaders-resolve-to-combat-extremism/articleshow/20278015.cms

[vizzek]

Some of this shit is just stupid. Derailing a train? How the fuck is that going to lead to socialism. I lot of this is just terrorism that ends up killing innocents who've done nothing wrong, and it makes it all too easy for the bourgeois media to say "look communists enjoy killing innocents, women, children, etc."

you have to understand that for people like this, "socialism" is accomplished by replacing the state with another state that will just enact more 'progressive' measures. the proletariat need not apply.

[KurtFF8]

Some of this shit is just stupid. Derailing a train? How the fuck is that going to lead to socialism. I lot of this is just terrorism that ends up killing innocents who've done nothing wrong, and it makes it all too easy for the bourgeois media to say "look communists enjoy killing innocents, women, children, etc."

I don't understand your criticism here. Did the Naxalites claim that the particular train derailing would lead to socialism or are you just constructing a straw man?

Do Communist groups in the US claim that selling newspapers or going to demonstrations will directly lead to socialism? (*Insert other similar examples with Anarchists and the like here of course*)

[ind_com]

PUCL statement condemning the Maoist massacre in Darbha Valley

MAY 28, 2013


t
by Shivam Vij (http://kafila.org/author/vijshivam/)

This statement was put outby the PEOPLE’S UNION FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES on 26 May, and the one below it on 25 May by PUCL’s Chhattisgarh unit
PUCL Condemns Killings of Congress Party leaders, their PSOs and Ordinary Villagers by Maoists in Dharba Ghati of Sukma District, Chhattisgarh

The PUCL strongly condemns the ambush of a Congress party election cavalcade by the dalam of the CPI(Maoist) party at Dharba Ghati area in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh on Saturday, 25th May, 2013, resulting in the death of 28 people including Congress party leaders, their personal security officers and ordinary villagers of the area. PUCL denounces as totally unacceptable, the abduction, kidnapping and subsequent killing in cold blood of the Congress party President of Chhattisgarh, NK Patel, and his son Dinesh. The Maoists also killed Mahendra Karma, the founder of the dreaded Salwa Judum, and his security guards.

What is particularly reprehensible is the killing of unarmed political workers of the Congress party by over 200 gun wielding members of the Maoist party which ended up killing a number of innocent bystanders also, who accidentally happened to be in the spot. Particularly reprehensible is the fact that armed Maoists cadre also killed people who had surrendered and were in their custody.

It is the PUCL’s understanding that under no circumstances can acts of brutality be justified, even if they be in response to equally heinous and brutal acts unleashed by the security forces, as we are seeing presently in Chhattisgarh, as recently as the killing of 8 innocent tribal villagers in Edasmeta village of South Bastar on 17th and 18th May, 2013; or in response to the brutalities committed by the vigilante Salwa Judum founded by the deceased Mahendra Karma.

We equally stress that whatever the circumstances, the security forces must act within the bounds of law. Our apprehension that the present incident will be used by both the Central as also State Governments to launch a brutal counter-offensive engulfing local tribal communities amidst greater state violence springs from the already grim human rights situation that prevails in the area. Complaints abound of state security forces committing with impunity, torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, secret detentions, abductions, arbitrary, prolonged and incommunicado detention, unfair trials, and enforced disappearances, and worse in the wake of Operation Greenhunt.
A Fact Finding Team of PUCL Chhattisgarh had recently, on 21st May, 2013, released its Report titled, `Guilty until proven Innocent – A Report on Unlawful Police Activities in North Bastar, Chhattisgarh’ which detailed the atrocities committed by the security forces in 2 villages in Chhattisgarh.

While PUCL firmly condemns the violence of the Maoists and acknowledges the constitutional duty and responsibility cast on the Governments to protect the life of all people, PUCL nevertheless asserts that all counter-measures adopted by the Government should adhere strictly to the rule of law, including the core principles of criminal and constitutional law and the specific standards and obligations of international human rights law, and, where applicable, humanitarian law. It should be noted that these principles, standards and obligations, as constantly affirmed by the Supreme Court, define the boundaries of permissible and legitimate State action against extremism and terrorism. It is however very important that the revolting nature of extremist acts cannot serve as a basis or pretext for the Governments to disregard their national and international obligations, in particular in the protection of fundamental human rights. We would like to point out to the caution highlighted by the International Council of Jurists in its Declaration on Upholding Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Combating Terrorism, The Berlin Declaration, 28 August 2004
PUCL would like to point out that it is important to strengthen civil society, not weaken it so as to effectively tackle political violence. An effective strategy to preventing the downward spiral into lives filled with violence, fear and repression is to genuinely acknowledge, respond and respect the key issues faced by tribals and local communities in Chhattisgarh; this will deny the basis for real or imagined grievances from supporting violence. The best way to strengthen democracy is by integrating human rights, equity and social justice considerations into all government policies, plans and programmes.
The spirals of violence and counter-violence in the troubled areas of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and other states is grim and life threatening. The PUCL, through this appeal, is therefore giving a national call for a `HUMANITARIAN RESPITE’ and appeals to the Central and State Governments, the security forces and also to the Maoists, to agree to an immediate ceasefire, stopping of armed engagements and engage in talks.

Sd/-
Prof. Prabhakar Sinha, National President, PUCL
Dr. V. Suresh, National General Secretary, PUCL

FOOT NOTE: Berlin Declaration, 2005

“A pervasive security-oriented discourse promotes the sacrifice of fundamental rights and freedoms in the name of eradicating terrorism. There is no conflict between the duty of States to protect the rights of persons threatened by terrorism and their responsibility to ensure that protecting security does not undermine other rights. On the contrary, safeguarding persons from terrorist acts and respecting human rights both form part of a seamless web of protection incumbent upon the State. Both contemporary human rights and humanitarian law allow States a reasonably wide margin of flexibility to combat terrorism without contravening human rights and humanitarian legal obligations”.


*
Chhatisgarh PUCL condemns the abduction and killings of Congress Party men in Darbha Ghati in Bastar area of the State
Calls for urgent intervention by democratic forces to end the spiral of violence in the Region

Raipur, 25th May, 2013
The Chhattisgarh PUCL strongly condemns the attack by suspected Maoists on the entourage of Congress Party leaders in the course of their election campaign in the forested Darbha Ghati in Sukma area in which, according to news reports till the present time, Congress leader Mahendra Karma and Uday Mudaliar have been killed and the President of the Congress Party Nand Lal Patel is suspected to have been abducted. More than 20 people have been reportedly killed with several seriously injured and the numbers of missing, injured and fatalities are on the increase.

The PUCL has always had a principled stand opposed to violence and the politics of killings and abduction. The spiraling violence in the Bastar region in which the present killings and abduction have occurred, and only a week ago on 17th May, 8 villagers including 3 children and a jawan were killed in an operation of security forces in Village Edesmeta, district Bijapur. For the first time, the police actually admitted that those who were attacked were innocent and instituted an enquiry. This situation requires the urgent intervention of all democratic forces in the country as also expressed in the recent strong and anguished letter issued by the Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Shri K Chandra Deo to the Governors regarding the situation in the Scheduled Areas.

Sudha Bharadwaj

General Secretary

(Chhattisgarh PUCL)


http://kafila.org/2013/05/28/pucl-statement-condemning-the-maoist-massacre-in-darbha-valley/

[ind_com]

BJP condemns brutal Maoist attack on Congress in Bastar

New Delhi, May 26, 2013, (IANS) :
The BJP Sunday condemned the Maoist attack on a Congress convoy in Chhattisgarh in which 16 people, including two senior Congress leaders, were killed, and appealed to political parties to come together and fight the extremist menace.

"The incident in Chhattisgarh due to Naxal violence is very unfortunate. I condemn it in strong words and express my sympathy towards the victims," BJP president Rajnath Singh told reporters here.

"I want to appeal to all political parties that whether it is Naxalism or terrorism, we need to rid the country of these issues, rising above party politics," he said, adding, "the entire country should come together".

Over a thousand Maoists, hiding behind bushes in a forested area of Chhattisgarh's southern Bastar area, Saturday attacked a Congress party convoy, carrying out a landmine blast and then opening fire, resulting in the death of 16 people, including two senior Congress leaders, and injuries to 25 others.

The incident took place in Sukma district around 5.15 p.m. when the leaders were returning to Jagdalpur after holding a Parivartan (transformation) rally.
The state is headed for elections to its assembly later this year.

Senior Congress leader and former leader of opposition Mahendra Karma and former legislator Uday Mudaliar were killed, and senior party leader and former union minister Vidya Charan Shukla seriously injured in firing by Maoists on their convoy that followed the landmine blast.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/334728/bjp-condemns-brutal-maoist-attack.html

[ind_com]

Chhattisgarh Maoist attack: Bastar SP suspended, IG shifted

RAIPUR: Heads rolled in the Chhattisgarh police administration on Tuesday with the government suspending Bastar superintendent of police MayankShrivastava and shunting out Bastar range IGPHimanshu Gupta, in the wake of the Maoist attack on Congress leaders.

"Bastar SP Mayank Shrivastava has been suspended while IG, Bastar range, Himanshu Gupta was shifted to police headquarters" Secretary, public relations, Aman Singh told TOI.

Shrivastava has been attached to DGP office till further order and Gupta will now serve as IG, crime investigation department (CID), Aman Singh said.

Ajay Yadav will be new SP of Bastar district and Arun Deo Gautam IG, Bastar range, Singh added.

Chhattisgarh government has already ordered a judicial probe into the incident.

The state government has come under criticism for security lapses that had led to the incident, something acknowledged by chief minister Raman Singh.

Heavily-armed Maoists had on Saturday last ambushed a convoy of Congress leaders at Darbha, killing 27 people including PCC chief Patel, his son Dinesh, senior Congress leader Mahendra Karma and ex-MLA Uday Mudaliyar and injuring 37 others, including former Union minister V C Shukla.

The NIA has also begun probe into the incident.

(Inputs from PTI)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Chhattisgarh-Maoist-attack-Bastar-SP-suspended-IG-shifted/articleshow/20315341.cms

[ind_com]

Anti-Tribal politician Mahendra Karma Dead - Citizens congratulate Maoists

The assassination of Mahendra Karma , an anti-tribal politician and the face of Salwa Judum has sparked wide spread jubilation and celebration among netizens.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_B0yfaxzKTo/UaD3RzFs7SI/AAAAAAAACL4/cRP9q46HZVk/s1600/mahendra-karma.jpg

Netizens celebrate assassination of the Monster of Bastar.

Given below is a small sample of comments that have appeared online from ordinary citizens celebrating the death of Mahendra Karma.
Keep Fighting Keep Fighting About time the Exploited and Abused peoples of India wake up and do Justice because the Corrupt Upper class will Never ever allow any.. I Salute these people

ss (india) At least now the naxals are on the right track.

Prince (Patna)This is something which I found better done at part of Naxal, as instead of killing the innocent common men, they have rightfully started attacking the corrupt politicians....the real meance and reason behid our sorrow. Anyone who today attacks the politicians of this naiton is unofficially declared real national hero.

manoj jha (nowhere) Good, Naxalite instead of targeting CRPF perosnnel settle there score with political class and let political class get the message what you reap is what you sow.

zen world (Delhi) I wonder how Maoists have eventually recognized the right people!

Vettrivel Tamil (Tamilnadu) First time i am noticing one thing 99 percent of the people feel happy one corrupted politician has been killed.. I feel sad how much these congressmen have tortured the tribals. so that they were forced to attack the corrupted politicians. My heart goes to all the Tribal people Brutalised and oppressed by congress politicians.

Raj (Bangalore) Good news. Well done Maoists. Eliminate all these corrupt politicians. Death to the landlords and capitalists! Long live communism! Long live the working class!

Prince (Patna) Well Done! Some burdens over this country is reduced.

john.s (kolkata) politicians getting killed is a happy news . whichever way it comes

Deepak (Bangalore) Even though anyone's killing should be condemned in the strongest of words but this is a good lesson to the political class who dont care for the common peoples suffering!. They will understand only when the problem comes to their doorsteps!. In that sense I welcome this move of naxalites to target the political class!

Vineet (Trichy)The Maoists seem to be on the right track! For a change they're choosing their targets carefully and being effective at it! This should soften the hatred of the common people; as long as they don't harbour dreams of coming to power.

Amit (Ranchi) Some one is saying very sad news!! How?? First time they recognized whom to attack and kill and they successfully did it. Hope they will continue with this tactics and stop killing common people and CRPF guys!!

sourav0612 Roy (Dubai) At last God gave them the proper targets, only 2 is not enough there are thousands of such goons..nyway very good job done.. Perhaps this is the only way left to wipe out those [email protected][email protected]$.... They will never bring Jan lok pal.. neither they will do any good for 125Cr.. I salute those brave men

K.parameshwar (Mysore) For once the maoists have done a good job. It is in national interest. Hats off to them..

Hushar_manus (Mumbai) Dear Naxalites - ' Why don't you target bigger white collar day light robbers like Kalmadi, A Raja, Bansal and others..." I am sure people of this country will appreciate your actions what they could not do the same in last 50 years to this bl00dy Congress...

Notes Of A Madman (HINDU Republic Of INDIA) For the first time in these 50 Years, Maoist did something GOOD in their life. Hail it.

deva (pune) naxlaite please go to delhi, lot many congressi will be there..they are looting motherland left right and center.not supporting of killing but dont mind if these congressi will be cleaned

das (bangalore) Its not an attack on democracy but attack on corrupt criminal politicians. Maoists should get rid of all corrupt politicians. They are on the right track.

Rakesh Goel (Lucknow) I think that the people in general would not care much if netas are killed. The naxalites should not target the policemen but the real culprits who are destroying the country.

Santa Singh (Patiala) Forget Kejriwal, we all should join the Maoist. Great service to the nation. Moji aap aage badho, hum kapde samhalte hai.

Prathiba the (New Delhi) Indian People. You have the right to live in India. India is your country. Eliminate the corrupted terrorists from the earth.

Prathiba the (New Delhi) People woke up. Good. Let the people take action against the terrorist group like Salwa Judum!! Notorious Congress Killer gang should be eliminated.

Deba (Bangalore) well.. i would say good riddence. I read some of the comments posted here and most of the people are happy that these congress guys got killed, i am sure most of the nation will be happy today. But some are blaming the Maoists. Let me tell you about my experience that i had. I am sure most of the people who are commenting over here do not even know who the maoists are. Do you think that they are the mafia, goondas?? You are wrong. I have visited maoists stronghold in Odisha, Andhra. I have actually spoken to them, i have seen their way of life. The maoists are actually tribals, they are the poorest of the poor people of india. These tribals have lived a simple life based on forests for time immemorial. But suddenly, after independence when the govt, the politicians were supposed to work towards the betterment of these people, they were forgotten. Before independence the naxals, maoists were a part of the freedom struggle, They were a part of the govt till about the 70s when they decided to part ways, they were just not able to take the dirty politics and the corruption that had crept into the govt. even today, if you visit the villages of these tribals you will be amazed to see the conditions in which they live. Electricity is not there, their houses are made of sticks and mud, one kick and the entire house falls apart. and they live in those houses amongst tigers, elephants, bears. when they go to sleep in the night, they do not know if they will be alive the next morning or will they see their loved ones the next morning. That is the reality. the govt. employees, the police and now the soldiers are all bent on exploiting them to the fullest. A juniro engineer comes to the village to give approval for a tube well and sanction funds, to do that he will demand Rs.30000 as bribe and also will demand sex with the women folks of the villages. Tell me in all probability if you are a self respecting man in such a situation what will you do? What is wrong in picking up an axe, knife and killing that junior engineer? What is the harm in killing a police officer who exploits you and your family? The truth is far removed from what the corrupt congress govt. is trying to potray. Chidambaram is the biggest terrorist of this country, he alone is responsible for killing many tribals, infact so many that you can term it as genocide, and it is happening right infront of our eyes. Do not blame the maoists, naxals without knowing as to what is their motivation. One man can be wrong, even two, three can be wrong, but not lakhs and lakhs. There has to be fire for smoke to come out.

vivek (bbsr) Blow up all those greedy politician. Only then they will fear to enter into ruling. Hats off naxalist. I think this is what all the public really wished in their mind to these politician.

nicks (india) Dear maoists, please put one more name in your diary to eliminate... Its Mr. Sharad Pawar... Kindly do d needful as soon as possible... Thanking you, True Indian

shailendra (delhi) Kill the corrupt congresis intea of innocent ccrpf jawans

Dhirendra Singh (mumbai)After a long time such a good news is coming out..well done naxalites, Please do not target innocent peoples instead continue to do such kind of great job by eliminating greedy and corrupt looters (so called leaders).

Dhirendra Singh (mumbai)A good job indeed by naxalites..wash out them...'A BIG CHANGE IN CHHATTISGARH'. Jogi must also have been killed....

Anjaan (USA) replies to jyotirmoyYou mo**er fu**er, have you ever asked yourself why these poor aboriginal people have taken up arms .....?? ....... these are brave people that do not accept the current corrupt system of looting the nation in the name of democracy ...... they can not wait another 100 years for social justice ...... the Indian army need to learn from these brave people ...... stop taking instructions from political leadership .........

All the above comments are taken from the below article published on the TOI.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Congress-leader-VC-Shukla-critically-injured-in-Maoist-Netizens celebrate assassination of the Monster of Bastar.



http://naxalrevolution.blogspot.in/2013/05/anti-tribal-politician-mahendra-karma.html

[ind_com]

Major operation launched against Maoists, 1,000 troops in Bastar jungles

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/photo/20293931.cms

RAIPUR: In wake of the deadly Maoist attack on the Congress Parivartan rally in Chhattishgarh, more than 1,000 security personnel have been pumped into the jungles of the Naxalite-infested Bastar region for a major offensive against the ultras. "Over thousand security men are on a combing operation in the region (Bastar) after the attack on Congress leaders," director general of police Ramniwas told on Monday.


Heavily armed Maoists ambushed a convoy of Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh's Bastar district on Saturday, killing 27 people including state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, senior leader Mahendra Karma and ex-MLA Uday Mudliyar besides leaving 36 others injured including former Union minister VC Shukla.

DGP Ramniwas said they have received a tip-off about the cadres who orchestrated the attack and assured early action.

"We have got input about the Naxalite leaders, who were involved in the attack and efforts are on to nab them," he said.

On the missing security personnel, the DGP said, "A police jawan Pawan Kindro is missing and search is on for him in the jungles."

According to police sources, so far security forces have recovered 24 bodies from Jiram valley of Darbha block where attack had taken place.

Meanwhile, a team of NIA (National Investigation Agency) has reached Raipur and begun its probe into the incident.

"The NIA team has reached here and started investigation at its level," the DGP added.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-05-27/india/39556419_1_bastar-darbha-mahendra-karma

[ind_com]

No talks with Maoists, operations to be intensified: GovtNo talks with Maoists, operations to be intensified: Govt

NEW DELHI: Anti-Naxal operations will be intensified in the aftermath of the Maoist attack on Congress leaders, the government today said, ruling out holding peace talks with the extremists unless they abjure violence.

Minister of state for home RPN Singh said Maoist barbarism and cold blooded murders have peaked in the last six months and there was an urgent need to re-look the policy dealing with the Naxals.

"The Maoists have no respect for human rights. There is a need to re-look the policy dealing with the Naxals. There will be more active operations," he told reporters here.

Singh said when former home minister P Chidambaram had announced the offer of dialogue to the Maoists, they did not come forward and hence time has come to review the situation.

"They are not interested in talks or following the democratic process. There will be no talks unless they abjure violence," he said.

Referring to Saturday's attack in Bastar region, where 27 people, including PCC chief Nand Kumar Patel, were killed, he said government would ensure that activities of political parties were not disrupted by extremists and Standard Operating Procedures would be framed for political parties, their programmes and on movement of leaders.

"We will ensure that political parties have their space without any disruption. We will ensure that such violence do not take place in future. SoPs have to be adhered to," he said.

Singh also said the Centre has to review the policy of giving development funds to Maoist-hit states, adding many of them have not been able to utilise money given in the past.

"Unfortunately, in some states money is lying unutilized for years. There should be mechanism that funds reach the intended district for development without delay and they are spent for the benefit of common people," he said.



http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/No-talks-with-Maoists-operations-to-be-intensified-Govt/articleshow/20316316.cms

[ind_com]

Policy for dealing with Maoists needs review, says Centre

SANDEEP JOSHI

http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/01470/JAGDALPUR_1470103g.jpg

In this May 26, 2013 photo, poicemen pay a guard of honour to Chhattisgah Congress president Nand Kumar Patel and others who were killed in an attack by Maoists, in Jagdalpur.

There is an urgent need to relook the policy dealing with Maoists, says Union Minister of State for Home R.P.N. Singh

Maintaining that there would be no talks with Maoists until they gave up their violent ways, the Centre on Tuesday said it would step up its anti-Naxal operations in States affected by Left-Wing Extremism.

Pointing out that the last six months had seen Maoists’ barbarism reach its peak, Union Minister of State for Home R.P.N. Singh said there was an urgent need to review the policy for dealing with Naxals.

“The Maoists have no respect for human rights. There is a need to [readdress] the policy [for] dealing with the Naxals… There will be more active operations,” Mr. Singh told journalists here.

“[The Maoists] did not come forward [when Home Minister P. Chidambaram offered to conduct peace talks]… They are not interested in talks or following the democratic process. There will be no talks unless they abjure violence. We will review our strategy to deal with Naxals.”

Giving parties space

Asked about the growing threat perception from Naxals for political leaders in light of Saturday’s attack on a Congress convoy in Chhattisgarh, the Minister said the government would ensure that activities of political parties were not disrupted by extremists. Standard operating procedures would be framed for political parties, their programmes and on the movement of party leaders, Mr. Singh said, adding: “We will ensure that political parties have their space without any disruption. We will ensure that such violence [does] not take place in future. SoPs have to be adhered to.”

Funds mechanism

Mr. Singh said, that the Union government would also review the policy of giving development funds in LWE-affected States: “In some States, money [has been] lying unutilised for years. There should be [a] mechanism that funds reach the intended district for development without delay and are spent for the benefit of common people.”

BJP: where is Shinde?

Meanwhile, criticising Mr. Shinde for being missing in action during a “national calamity” in the aftermath of Saturday’s incident, Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said: “At a time when so much of commotion is happening, the gentleman there [Mr. Shinde] is on a private trip for past four days when [the] rest of the people from the official trip have come back.”

Speaking to journalists, Ms. Lekhi termed the initiation of a probe by the National Investigative Agency into the attack as “superfluous” given that Chief Minister Raman Singh had told Mr. Shinde that Chhattisgarh would be setting up a commission of enquiry to probe the incident.

Mr. Shinde’s absence from North Block continues to be a talking point at the senior government levels. The Home Minister has been in the United States since May 19 for a security dialogue (that took place between May 20-22) and is expected to return only on May 29, as per his itinerary, even though officials who were part of the delegation, including Home Secretary R.K. Singh, are already back.

Official sources said Mr. Shinde had stayed back for private purposes and there were no official engagements to attend. Interestingly, in Mr. Shinde’s absence, his predecessor and Finance Minister P Chidambaram is said to have been in regular touch with Home Ministry officials following the attack.

[ind_com]

Maoists claim responsibility for Ch'garh attack

28 May 2013

Press Trust of India

RAIPUR, 28 MAY: Banned outfit CPI(Maoist) today claimed responsibility for the massacre of Congress leaders in Bastar region and demanded immediate suspension of all operations against it across the country.
"The aim behind this attack was to kill Mahendra Karma and other Congress leaders. During the two-hour long gunbattle between commanders of CPI (Maoist) and security forces, some innocent people and low-level Congress workers were killed.

"They were not our enemies but they lost their lives. We express regret over their death and offer our condolence to the bereaved families,” said Gudsa Usendi, spokesperson of 'Dandkaranya Special Zonal Committee' of CPI(Maoist), in a statement.

He accused slain leaders Karma, architect of Salwa Judum (people's movement against naxalism) and Nand Kumar Patel, Pradesh Congress Chief of corruption and implementing anti-people policies in Chhattisgarh.
The outfit accused senior Congress leader V C Shukla, who sustained serious injuries in the attack and at present undergoing treatment in a hospital in Gurgaon, of playing an “active role” in framing pro-industrialist measures in the state.

“Karma, who has been called a tribal leader, is from a feudal family of Manjhi caste. His family has been traditional oppressors of the tribals,” Usendi said in the statement seeking to justify the killing.

Twenty seven people including the PCC chief and his son were killed and 32 others, including Mr Shukla, were injured in Saturday's Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district, considered as hot-bed of left-wing extremists.

Both the Congress and the BJP got together to start Salwa Judum to launch barbaric offensive (against Maoists). “Salwa Judum has become a bane for people living in Bastar region. Lot of atrocities were carried out against innocent men and women in the name of this movement...Karma himself led some of the movements of Salwa Judum in villages,” the statement said.

Through this attack we have taken revenge on behalf of people who were made to suffer in the name of Salwa Judum, it said.

"Soon after the attack Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh have termed it (killing) as an attack on democratic values. BJP President Rajnath Singh asked all to rise above politics to fight against Maoism and Terrorism. We ask do they have any moral right to take the name of democracy and democratic values?”

"Recently, eight people including three children were killed by police and paramilitary forces on 17 May in Bijapur district in an encounter. Why none of them thought of any democratic values at that time,” Usendi alleged and cited some more incidents in which tribals were claimed to be killed by security forces.

“CPI (Maoist) appeals to all people to immediately call off Operation Green Hunt and take back all security forces deployed there. Army should not be deployed in Bastar region in the name of training. All leaders languishing in jails should be immediately released.

“Strict legislations like Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and Chhattisgarh Special People Security Act should be repealed. All memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with corporates to exploit natural resources should also be cancelled,” Usendi said.

[Brutus]

Do the Maoists have any strategy apart from hit and run attacks on the army/ assassinations?

[ind_com]

Do the Maoists have any strategy apart from hit and run attacks on the army/ assassinations?

Right now it is primarily hit and run. But since the people's war is already in the transitional phase to mobile war, there are instances where the PLGA has confronted larger portions of the state forces for as long as 24 hours.

[ind_com]

CPI (MAOIST) DANDAKARANYA SPECIAL ZONAL COMMITTEE May 26,2013


May 26, 2013 Elimination of fascist Salwa Judum leader Mahendra Karma: Legitimate response to the inhuman atrocities, brutal murders and endless terror perpetrated on the Adivasis of Bastar!

Attack on top Congress leaders: Inevitable reprisal to the fascist Operation Green Hunt being carried on by the UPA government hand in glove with various state governments!

On May 25, 2013, a detachment of the People’s Liberation Guerilla Army conducted a massive attack on the 20 plus vehicles convoy of Congress party which resulted in wiping out of at least 27 Congress leaders, activists and policemen including Mahendra Karma, the bitter enemy of the oppressed people of Bastar and Nand Kumar Patel, president of the Congress’ state unit. It took place when the Congress partyl eaders were touring in Bastar region as part of their ‘Parivartan Yatra’ program (i.e. March of Change)keeping their eye on forthcoming assembly elections.

At least 30 others also were injured in this attack including ex-central minister and veteran Congress leader Vidya Charan Shukla. The dog’s death of Mahendra Karma, notorious tyrant, murderer, rapist, robber and maligned as corrupt, in this historic attack has created a festive atmosphere in entire Bastar region. Former state home minister Nand Kumar Patel was also had the history of suppressing the people. It was in his tenure, paramilitary force (CRPF) was deployed in Bastar region for the first time. It was also not hidden from anyone that the former central minister VC Shukla who had been in various portfolios including Home ministry, was also a people’s enemy who had acted as a loyal servant of imperialists, comprador bureaucratic bourgeoisie and landlords and had played a key role in formulating and implementing exploitative government policies.

The goal of this attack was mainly to eliminate Mahendra Karma and some other reactionary Congress top leaders as well. However,during this massive attack some innocent people and some lower level Congress party activists who were in fact not our enemies, were also killed and injured caught in the two-hour long gun battle that ensued between our guerrilla forces and the armed police forces. Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee of CommunistParty of India (Maoist) regrets for this and expresses condolence and sympathy to the families of the bereaved.

Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee of Communist Party of India (Maoist) takes absolute responsibility for this attack. We send our revolutionary greetings to the PLGA commanders who led this daring ambush, to the red fighters who contributed in this success, to the people who took part in it by lending active support and to the entire revolutionary masses of Bastar region. This attack has once again proved the historic fact that those fascists who perpetrate violence, atrocities and massacres on the people,will never be forgiven and they would inevitably be punished by the people.The so-called tribal leader Mahendra Karma was born into a feudal manjhi family.

Both his grandfather Masa Karma and father Bodda Manjhi were notorious harassers of the people in their times and were acted as trusted agents of colonial rulers. His family’s entire history is known of inhuman exploitation and oppression of Adivasis. Mahendra Karma’s political life was started in 1975 as a member of AISF while he was studying the law. He was elected as MLA from CPI first in 1978. Later in 1981, when he was denied ticket by CPI, he joined Congress. In 1996, he had gone with a breakaway faction of Madhavrao Scindhiaand became member of Indian Parliament as an independent candidate.

Later he rejoined the Congress party. In 1996, a massive movement took place in Bastar demanding the implementation of Sixth Schedule.Though mainly CPI had led that movement, our party – it was CPI (ML) [People’s War] then – also took active part in that movement mobilizing the masses on a large scale. But Mahendra Karma took bitter stand against that movement proving himself as representative of the selfish urban business people, who had come to Bastar as settlers and had accumulated massive wealth. Then only his anti-adivasi and pro-comprador nature was clearly exposed before the people.

Since the 1980s, he had strengthened the bonds with big business and capitalist classes in Bastar. Then in 1999, Karma’s name was exposed in a big scam called ‘Malik Makbuja’. A Lokayukta report revealed that in the period of 1992-96, Mahendra Karma hand in glove with timber black-marketers had made millions of rupees by cheating adivasi people and colluding with revenue and forest officials and the district collector. Though a CBI probe was ordered into this scam, nothing harm was done to the culprits as always happen.Mahendra Karma was minister of jails in undivided Madhya Pradesh. Later became industries and commerce minister in Ajit Jogi’s government when Chhattisgarh state was carved out of it.

At that time a forceful land acquisition took place in Nagarnar for the proposed steel plant by Romelt/NMDC. While the local people refused to give up their lands, Mahendra Karma took stand against the people and in favor of the capitalists. He played a key role in forcibly taking away the lands by suppressing the people with support of brutal police force. The people who lost their lands in Nagarnar received neither compensation nor the employment as government had promised till now.

They were forced to disperse.From the very beginning, Mahendra Karma stood as an arch enemy of the revolutionary movement. The reason is clear – hailed from a typical feudal family and ‘grown up’ as an agent of big business and bourgeois classes. The first Jan Jagaran (‘awareness’) campaign was launched in 1990-91 against the revolutionary movement. The revisionist CPI had participated in that counter-revolutionary campaign.Karma and many of his relatives belonged to the landlord classes had actively participated in it. The second Jan Jagaran campaign was launched in 1997-98 led by Mahendra Karma himself.

This was started in Mahendra Karma’s own village Faraspal and its surrounding villages and spread up to Bhairamgarh and Kutru areas. Hundreds of people were tortured and arrested and sent to jails. Many an incidents of looting and setting fire to houses took place. Womenfolk were raped. However, under the leadership of our party and mass organizations people came together and strongly countered this counter-revolutionary onslaught.Within a short time, this campaign was defeated.Later the revolutionary movement became more consolidated. Anti-feudal struggles were intensified in many areas.

Landlords like Podia Patel, the brother of Mahendra Karma, and some close relatives of him were killed as part of mass resistance actions. In many villages the power of feudal forces and bad gentry was thrown out and the process of establishment of People’s Revolutionary Power organs began. The feudal forces including Mahendra Karma were very furious as their lands were redistributed among the poor and landless peasants and the customs like unjustly forcing the people to pay penalties to the landlords were stopped. They opposed the progressive changes like stopping of forced marriages of women, discouraging polygamy etc. also.

And at the same time, the revolutionary movement was seemed as a hurdle by the corporate houses like Tatas and Essars who started their attempts to plunder away the natural resources of Bastar region. So, they naturally colluded with the counter-revolutionary elements like Mahendra Karma.They fed him with millions of coffers in order to create conducive atmosphere for their arbitrary depredations. On the other hand, after the emergence of CPI (Maoist) as a country-wide consolidated party as an outcome of the merger between the genuine revolutionary organizations, exploitative ruling classes intensified their counter-revolutionary onslaught in the guidance of the imperialists so as to crush the revolutionary movement.

Thus, a brutal attack in connivance with the Congress and the BJP has started in Bastar region namely ‘Salwa Judum’. So many followers and relatives of Mahendra Karma like SoyamMuka, Rambhuvan Kushwaha, Ajay Singh, Vikram Mandavi, Gannu Patel, Madhukarrao, and Gota Chinna etc. emerged as key leaders of Salwa Judum.One can hardly find any examples in the history to compare the severity of the devastation and barbarity caused by Salwa Judum to the lives of the Bastar people.

It killed more than one thousand people in cold blood; torched 640 villages into ashes, robbed thousands of houses; ate or took away chickens, goats, pigs,etc.; forced more than two million people to be displaced; dragged more than 50 thousand people into state-run ‘relief’ camps. Thus the Salwa Judum became anathema to the people. Hundreds of women were gang raped. Many women were murdered after rape. Massacres took place in many places.

The atrocities perpetrated on the people and havoc created by the hooligans of Salwa Judum, the police and paramilitary forces, especially the Naga and Mizo battalions crossed all limits. There were several incidents in which people were brutally cut into pieces before being dumped in rivers. Cherli, Kotrapal, Mankeli, Karremarka, 3 Mosla, Munder, Padeda, Paralnar, Pumbad, Gaganpalli… in many villages people were killed en masse.

Hundreds of tribal youth were recruited as SPOs and were turned into hardened criminals. Mahendra Karma himself led the attacks on several villages in the name of conducting meetings and marches. Many women were raped by the goons with the direct instigation of Mahendra Karma. He was directly involved in many incidents of burning the villages, torturing and murdering the people. Thus, in the minds of the people of Bastar, Mahendra Karma remained as an inhuman killer, rapist, dacoit and a loyal broker of the big capitalists. In entire Bastar people have been demanding our party and the PLGA for many years that he must be punished.

Many of them came forward voluntarily to give active support in this task. There were also a few attempts, but due to petty mistakes and other reasons he was able to escape. With this action we have taken revenge of over a thousand adivasis who were brutally murdered in the hands of Salwa Judum goons and government armed forces. We also have taken revenge on behalf of those hundreds of mothers and sisters who were subjected to cruelest forms of violence,humiliation and sexual assault.

We have taken revenge on behalf of the thousands of Bastarites who lost their homes, cattle, chickens, goats, bald, pottery, clothing, grain, crops … everything and were forced to live a miserable life in subhuman conditions. Immediately after this attack, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi,Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh etc. dubbed this as an attack on democracy and democratic values.

One wonders whether these pet dogs of exploiter classes have any moral qualification even to take the name of democracy! Of late, on May 17, when eight people including three innocent children were killed by police and paramilitary forces in Edsametta village of Bijapur district, then why did none of these leaders bother to think about ‘democracy’? Between January 20 to 23, when villages named Doddi Tumnar and Pidiya of Bijapur district were attacked by your forces who torched 20 houses and a school house run by the people, did your ‘democracy’ flourish there?

Exactly 11 months ago, on thenight of June 28, 2012 in Sarkinguda village, 17 adivasis were slaughtered and 13 women were gang raped. Were those incidents a part of your ‘democratic values’? Does your ‘democracy’ only applicable to the mass murderers like Mahendra Karma and ruling class agents like Nand Kumar Patel? Whether the poor adivasis of Bastar, the elderly, children and the women come under the umbrella of your ‘democracy’ or not? Are the massacres of adivasis a part of your ‘democracy’?

Do any of those who are shouting loudly against this attack have any answer for these questions? By the end of 2007, Salwa Judum was defeated by the resistance of the masses. Then in 2009,Congress-led UPA-2 has unleashed a countrywide offensive by name Operation Green Hunt (OGH). The US imperialists are not only giving guidance and help and support, but by deploying their special forces in India they also are actively participating in counter-insurgency operations. They are giving emphasis on killing the Maoist leadership. The Union government has so far sent more than 50 thousand paramilitary forces to Chhattisgarh as part of ongoing OGH, i.e. ‘War on People’.

As a result, there has been manifold increase in massacres and destruction. 400 adivasis were killed by central and state armed forces here in Bastar so far since 2009. From mid-2011, Army troops have been creating bases in Bastar region in the name of setting up‘training schools’. Both Chidambaram and Shinde, the former and present home ministers, including PM Manmohan Singh have been eagerly rendering all support to the Chhattisgarh government and expressing full satisfaction over Raman Singh government’s performance in crushing revolutionary movement.

Raman Singh too has been expressing his gratitude on every occasion for Centre’s help. Therefore, in Chhattisgarh, there are no differences between ruling BJP and opposition Congress in terms of policies of suppressing the revolutionary movement. Only due to public pressure, as well as to gain electoral benefits, some of the local leaders of the Congress at times came in condemnation of incidentslike Sarkinguda and Edsametta massacres.

Their opposition is sham which is nothing more than opportunism. Both Congress and BJP are same in implementing corporate friendly and oppressive policies. The frequent penetration of Greyhounds forces across the Chhattisgarh borders from Andhra Pradesh, and the mass murders it committed first in Kanchal (2008) and recently in Puwwarti (May 16,2013) are part and parcel of the oppressive policies adopted and implemented by Congress party.

That’s why we have targeted top leaders of Congress.Today, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, Home Minister Nankiram Kanwar, Ministers Ramvichar Netam, Kedar Kashyap, Vikram Usendi, Governor Shekhar Dutt, Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil etc.; DGP Ram Niwas, ADG Mukesh Gupta and other senior officials of the police, who are hell- bent on crushing the revolutionary movement of Dandakaranya, are in the big illusion that they are unbeatable.

Mahendra Karma also has kept the illusion that Z plus Security and bullet-proof vehicles would save him forever. In the history of the world, Hitler and Mussolini were in the same pride that no one could beat them. In the contemporary history of our country, the fascists like Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi also were victims of similar misgivings. But the People are invincible. People only are the makers of the history. Ultimately, a handful of exploiters and a few of their pet dogs will only bethrown in the dustbin of the history.

Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee of Communist Party of India (Maoist) calls upon the workers, peasants, students, intellectuals, writers, artists, media persons and all other democrats to demand the governments to stop the OGH immediately; to withdraw all kinds of paramilitary forces from Dandakaranya;to give up the conspiracy of deploying the Army in the name of ‘training’; to put an end to the interference of Air Force; to release all the revolutionary activists and ordinary adivasis languishing in various jails immediately; to scrap the cruel laws like UAPA, CSPSA, MACOCA, AFSPA, etc.; to cancel the all thoseMoUs signed with the corporate houses with the aim of plundering the natural wealth of the country.

(Gudsa Usendi) Spokesperson Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee CPI (Maoist)


http://www.signalfire.org/?p=24410

[Beeth]

Do the Maoists have any strategy apart from hit and run attacks on the army/ assassinations?

As a Trot, I may not entirely agree with certain maoist principles, but at least the maoists have the guts to go after politicians instead of sitting around and distributing leaflets.

[ind_com]

Women Maoists stabbed Congress leader Mahendra Karma 78 times

DARBHA (JAGDALPUR): For anti-Maoist crusader and Congress veteran Mahendra Karma, the last few minutes of his life must have been excruciatingly tortuous: a handful of hardened female combatants took turns to stab him 78 times, making sure they inflicted maximum pain before he met his end.


The precise description of Karma's execution was provided by two shepherd boys to CRPF's elite CoBRA commandos, some of who later spoke to TOI. To ensure that the Maoists had got the man on the top of their hit-list, the women cadre — 10-12 of them — first checked with other Congressmen whether it was indeed Karma even though he had revealed his identity to the Maoists. When it was confirmed, the women began making fun of him, asking him about his "last wish".


"Karma was taken away from the roadside into a thicket and asked whether he wanted to put on fresh clothes or have his last meal," said a commando, quoting the shepherds, who stood mute spectators to the ghastly killing. "One person was sent to bring his lunch from his vehicle. But Karma remained silent with hands tied behind his back. Then, a dark complexioned woman fired a shot in his back. But he did not fall down. Another woman broke his leg with a log of wood and he collapsed. Soon, other women joined her and began stabbing his face," said the commando.

While the Maoists had already claimed that their purpose was to "punish" Karma for launching Salwa Judum, the controversial anti-Maoist armed tribal militia, the women rebels attacked him as if they had a personal score to settle. But then the Maoists are known for their brutal techniques of killing their enemies, especially suspected police informers and security personnel. In 2009, the macabre beheading of Jharkhand special branch inspector Francis Induwar by Maoists was condemned even by their supporters.

Karma's post-mortem report confirmed the testimonies of the shepherds. His body was found with 78 stab wounds, including three on his face and four on his buttocks. His head was crushed with rocks.

The shepherds' statement that Karma was shot only twice, too, was confirmed in the autopsy report, handed over to Jagdalpur police by forensic medicine department of the local medical college. The shepherds had heard one of the women shouting and firing at his buttock at first. And then, he was shot at his abdomen after he died. Both the bullets went through his body and neither could be recovered.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-05-29/india/39600931_1_women-maoists-mahendra-karma-francis-induwar

[ind_com]

Maoist attack: NIA pins hope on stolen mobiles to track killers

RAIPUR: As the National Investigation Agency ( NIA) begins its probe into Maoist killings in tribal Bastar in Chhattisgarh, investigators are pinning hope on tracking the perpetrators of the ghastly crime through the 119 mobile phones of the Congress leaders and others taken away by the rebels after the massacre.

While no major breakthrough has been achieved so far, hopes soar high as the mobile phones of two prominent slain leaders (identity not being disclosed, as investigations are underway) killed in the attack were switched on twice since the attack.

Sources said one phone was switched on for less than a minute on the ill-fated day at about 21:30 hours, about six hours after the attack commenced. The other phone was reportedly switched on Tuesday for less than a minute.

Officials privy to the investigations reveal that the phone, used on the day of the massacre, was switched on near Odisha border, close to the tri-junction of Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.

This, officials say, also gives credence to the reports of involvement of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh based Maoists in the massacre. Incidentally, latest intelligence reports indicate movement of Maoists along the Chhattisgarh-Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border, with a sighting of about 100-150 insurgents.

Sources revealed that International Mobile Equipment Identity number (IMEI), a unique 15-digit code assigned to handsets, of at least a dozen phones, snatched away by the Naxalites, have been kept under surveillance as of now. "We are trying to get the IMEI numbers of more phones, as eyewitnesses told us that mobile phones of all the victims were taken away by the killers", said an officer on condition of anonymity.

Officers also reveal that since majority of the areas around Darbha do not have connectivity, it's going to be a long "wait and watch" game. Since the location of the mobiles can only be traced through cellphone towers, everything will depend on when the mobiles are switched on or used, they say.

Some senior police officials here however expressed apprehensions that cell phones may not be able to provide them crucial leads as the IMEI numbers can be tampered with through software easily available on the Internet.

"Moreover these Naxalites are smart enough not to use stolen phones that could reveal their locations", said an officer while adding that their hopes were pinned on the fact that criminals do commit mistakes.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Maoist-attack-NIA-pins-hope-on-stolen-mobiles-to-track-killers/articleshow/20350770.cms

[ind_com]

Maoists release fresh hit-list, to target ex-Salwa Judum activists

RAIPUR: Within days after the worst Naxal ambush targeting senior Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh, Maoists have sent a letter to Sukma district collectorate, threatening to eliminate at least 15 people, who were associated with controversial anti-Naxalite movement Salwa Judum.

The letter, written in red ink by Darbha divisional committee of Communist Party of India (Maoist), was received at the Sukmacollectorate on Tuesday.

"We will punish the salwa judum activists and the police", said the letter adding that it was releasing a list of people, who were helping the police and were closely associated with Salwa Judum. "You will not be able to protect them even by deploying your entire force", the letter threatened.

The Maoists named the Salwa Judum leaders and those who were helping the security forces to take action against innocent tribes and for sending them to jail.

Maoists demand include withdrawal of para-military Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) from Bastar, stop killing of innocent people, calling off of "Operation Green Hunt", and calling off Vikas Yatra and Parivartan Yatra, registration of murder charges against CRPF members involved in Arasmetta killings and release of Maoists cadres from prisons.

The fresh threat to people who were associated with controversial anti-Naxalite movement 'Salwa Judum" comes within days after the Maoists unleashed an attack on a Congress convoy in Bastar, killing prominent Congress leader Mahendra Karma, who spearheaded the movement between 2005 and 2008.

Karma, who was on the top of Maoist hit-list, had survived several attempts on his life during the last two decades before he was brutally killed by the Maoists on May 25.

Emboldened by the capture and execution of top Salwa Judum leader, the rebels have now gone public, challenging the security forces to protect those who were in their hit-list, which they have sent it to the office of district collector of Sukma.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Maoists-release-fresh-hit-list-to-target-ex-Salwa-Judum-activists/articleshow/20352562.cms

[ind_com]

After Maoist attack, police dismantle big camp in Sukma

http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/01471/Chhattisgarh_1471894e.jpg

Questions surface about the wisdom of setting it up

PTI Within 72 hours of Saturday night’s devastating Maoist strike, Chhattisgarh police have removed one of their biggest camps from Minapa in Sukma district, located deep inside the forest, possibly fearing another attack.

Within 72 hours of Saturday night’s devastating Maoist strike, Chhattisgarh police have removed one of their biggest camps from Minapa in Sukma district, located deep inside the forest, possibly fearing another attack. The camp was removed lock, stock and barrel on Tuesday, 15 days after it was set up. Reportedly, it housed a thousand personnel.

Till last week, police officers were talking about the camp as a major strategic advance in the direction of the Andhra Pradesh border. But repeated firing by rebels on the camp had clearly put the police on the back foot.

Constables and junior officers on the ground believe that the Minapa camp, 50 km south of Sukma, had a vital link to the Darbha attack on Saturday, which saw the death of 27 Congress workers and leaders.

“All attention was focussed on reaching supplies and facilities to Minapa,” said one officer. Many officers felt it would not be inaccurate to connect Minapa with Darbha.

According to informed sources, the camp was a fine example of “horrendous planning.” It was set up even as the monsoon was approaching. “The camp should have been set up in October or November, so that it would have been well-established by the time the monsoon arrived,” said a constable.

The camp lacked even basic facilities such as toilets. There were no shade-trees to give cover — from rain, heat or stray firing. Personnel were spending their nights virtually in the open in an area largely controlled by Maoists.

Some constables told The Hindu that casualties were growing. “They went out to defecate and got shot. One died of bullet injuries and another got shot. One died of snake bite; there was no anti-venom available,” said one of them.

Constables alleged they were virtually left in the jungle to rot and die. “We were left in an open space, in the forest, in temperatures above 47 degrees, and told to set up facilities, to defend ourselves and go on the offensive. This was absurd,” said one. Moreover, some of them were brought from the plains of Chhattisgarh. They had limited knowledge of the terrain and often suffered from dehydration. One officer said the camp was intended to be in place only for 15 to 20 days. “It was an experiment carried out to place an additional camp in the Maoist hotbed for two weeks during the Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign (TCOC) of the Maoists, so that we can engage them while they are busy planning,” he said. But the Maoist TCOC continues.

Director General of Police Ram Niwas defended the camp project. “We clearly achieved what we wanted to achieve. The Maoists were pushed back [during the TCOC],” he said.

Mr. Niwas was not ready to accept the views put forward by the constables. “There are officers with decades of experience who designed the plan and worked on it, and we achieved our target. If constables start finalising plans, how are we going to operate?”

He denied that the additional burden put on officers in Bastar in setting up the camp had left a hole in routine policing operations.

IGP shifted

Meanwhile, Bastar’s Inspector General of Police Himanshu Gupta has been shifted, and attached to headquarters. Indications are that at least part of the blame for the Darbha debacle has been put on him, and Mayank Srivastava, Superintendent of Police, Bastar.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/after-maoist-attack-police-dismantle-big-camp-in-sukma/article4766756.ece

[ind_com]

Maoists may target urban areas: Shinde

Facing criticism for not curtailing his U.S. visit in view of last week’s massacre by Maoists in Chhattisgarh, Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said he had taken prior permission to stay till May 29. He returned on Thursday after the week-long visit though the official dialogue with the U.S. authorities on security issues got over on May 23 itself.

“I had a meeting with an eye specialist and I had got permission to extend the stay,” Mr. Shinde told journalists here. Defending his silence over the killings, he said: “There was no need for me to issue a statement because I was in touch with MoS Home [R.P.N Singh].”

Earlier, Mr. Shinde said: “It was an attack on democracy… I strongly condemn the brutal and inhuman killing of leaders and people in Bastar.”

Mr. Shinde, however, cautioned that Maoists could strike at some urban centres. “There is specific information that Naxals are planning attacks in urban centres... We have specific information about Pune. There are many areas where Naxals have a stronghold.”

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/maoists-may-target-urban-areas-shinde/article4766792.ece