A correction: Point 1 is my response to the excitement and chaotic state of affairs in Bhubaneswar and assembly and media houses in Orissa just now and not directed to people who question state repression. I assumed it was understood but someone pointed this out to me. Ranjana
--- On Fri, 18/2/11, Ranjana <[email protected]> wrote: From: Ranjana <[email protected]> Subject: [humanrights-movement:3762] Re: [pudr-info] Press Statement: PUDR asks the Maoists to release the two hostages To: "activist PUDR" <[email protected]>, "PUDR Delhi" <[email protected]>, "humanrights" <[email protected]> Date: Friday, 18 February, 2011, 10:32 Dear friends in PUDR, Such a prompt response is great. I have shared it with many people in Orissa too. Two points I share now: One collector - five policemen - still alive - draw more response than 11 teenage adivasi girls killed in a span of two weeks. While the entire state is on its toes and all DR groups are writing to the Maoists and there's dialogue happening with Maoists, please note that there has been another killing by the Maoists in the Narayanpatna area the previous day. This person was suspected to be an informer. Condeming such killings while condeming hostage - taking as a position are not so far removed. If it is and dilutes our position, we can discuss. Ranjana Orissa: Maoists killed contractor in Narayanpatna Block Report by Orissa Diary correspondent; Koraput: In another shocking incident Maoists killed a contractor in Narayanpatna Block of Orissa. The armed Maoists called the contractor Nasya Wadeka of Dandabadi village under Narayanpatna Block in the late night of Wednesday and killed him suspecting him as informer of Police. On the other hand the Police have recovered coils and fuse wires from Godapadar area of Kolab. It is perhaps used by the Maoists for the land mine. It is to be mentioned here that on the spot land mine blasting occurred on 6th February 2004, in which two Jawans were spot dead. http://orissadiary.com/CurrentNews.asp?id=24701 --- On Thu, 17/2/11, PUDR Delhi <[email protected]> wrote: From: PUDR Delhi <[email protected]> Subject: [pudr-info] Press Statement: PUDR asks the Maoists to release the two hostages To: "activist PUDR" <[email protected]> Cc: "Friends of PUDR" <[email protected]>, "amit chawla" <[email protected]>, "ANIRUDDH DWIVEDI" <[email protected]>, "Anupriya Ghosh" <[email protected]>, "biman ghosh" <[email protected]>, "Himadri Sekhar Mistri" <[email protected]>, "Honey Mary John" <[email protected]>, "Isha Panwar" <[email protected]>, "Janki Doshi" <[email protected]>, "M.kannan" <[email protected]>, "Maddi Srinivas Reddy" <[email protected]>, "Manoj Kumar Sharma" <[email protected]>, "monaj akhtar" <[email protected]>, "papia sengupta" <[email protected]>, "Radha Raman" <[email protected]>, "RAJESH JAIN" <[email protected]>, "Rintu Thomas" <[email protected]>, "Rohit" <[email protected]>, [email protected], "Vaibhav Mahajan" <[email protected]>, "Vyas Muni Tiwari" <[email protected]> Date: Thursday, 17 February, 2011, 20:54 People Union for Democratic Rights Press Release 17/02/11 PUDR asks the Maoists to release the two hostages taken by them unconditionally Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) urges the CPI (Maoist) to ensure that no harm comes to V. Krishna, Collector Malkangiri district of Orissa as well as Pavitra Mohan Majhi a junior engineer taken hostage by them. We wish to also state that hostage-taking is a condemnable act and linking of demands with the release of captives is an unacceptable way to draw public attention to the plight of the Adivasis. We believe that it tends to belittle the legitimate grievances which people have against the authorities who have launched 'operation greenhunt' in the country's Adivasi areas. We are mindful of the fact that in normal course, despite the scale of atrocities being perpetrated against the Adivasis whose land and forests are coveted by the mining corporations, these receive perfunctory attention from the media and the state authorities. There have been enumerable instances of fake encounters, a large number of Adivasis have been arrested and incarcerated in overcrowded jails for years, as well as many Maoists cadres, treated as the "enemy", are being tortured in police custody and condemned to inhuman prison conditions It is a paradox that its only when hostages are taken and media splashes the incident, that the Adivasis' grievances come to the notice of the public at large in the form of demands by the Maoists. We, therefore, wish to remind the authorities that the issue of hostage taking ought not to be confined to the release of the hostages but that it is seized as an opportunity to address the issues raised which include the attack on lives and livelihood of the people and the state's stubborn effort to push the interests of the corporate sector, riding roughshod over people's opposition. We ask the Maoists to release the two hostages taken by them unconditionally and call upon the authorities to address the specific instances cited by the Maoists so that Adivasis suffering is mitigated and incidence of hostage taking becomes redundant. Harish Dhawan and Paramjeet Singh (Secretaries PUDR) -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Peoples Union For Democratic Rights, Delhi (India) (Peoples Union For Democratic Rights is a Delhi based organisation, fighting for peoples rights in India for more than twenty five years now) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. 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