[Quote 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. Unquote
But no such guarantees, as yet, for passenger buses. http://www.asianage.com/india/maoist-attack-bus-fails-439 Maoist Attack On Bus Fails May 30th, 2010 -- Rabindra Nath Choudhury<http://www.asianage.com/category/author/rabindra-nath-choudhury> | - Raipur <http://www.asianage.com/category/place/raipur> Maoist guerrillas on Saturday unsuccessfully tried to repeat the May 17 Chingawara tragedy in which they had blown up a passenger bus and killed 35 people by targeting another civilian bus in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, reports reaching here said. The bus, carrying about 70 passengers, managed to dodge the landmine blast triggered by the insurgents at a place around 40 km from the district headquarters town in Bijapur, averting a certain disaster. “The blast took place barely a couple of minutes after the bus crossed the explosion site. The passengers panicked as the explosion occurred just a few metres from the speeding bus,” reports said. “It was a narrow escape for all of us as the ear-splitting blast occurred not far away from us,” the passengers told security personnel at a nearby CRPF camp. No one was injured, reports added. However, the police was yet to confirm the incident. “We have received reports that Maoists triggered a landmine blast, targeting a passenger bus. But it is yet to be confirmed,” a senior district police officer told this newspaper. Police sources said the explosion took place a few yards from the road embankment, allowing the bus to escape without being hit. The landmine was perhaps planted at the place a few weeks ago. “It seems the Maoists could not judge the location of the landmine and thus missed the target,” police sources said. Senior police officers rushed to the area to begin a probe into the incident. Nearly 25,000 sq. km of the total 40,000 sq. km forest area in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh have been heavily mined, official reports say. The Bastar region, a Maoist stronghold, comprises the five districts of Bijapur, Dantewada, Bastar, Kanker and Narayanpur.] --- On *Sun, 5/30/10, Concernedcitizens now <[email protected]> * wrote: Date: Sunday, May 30, 2010, 2:35 PM *The Second Statement from CPI (Maoist) on the Train Accident* *“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* * * *(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.)* 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”. -- Concerned Citizens -- Concerned Citizens -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
