Please allow me to cite a long passage from PUCl, PUDR and Dharma Sansad report "Of Human Bondage:A Report on Hostage-taking in Bastar". It is only to raise and share a concern:
"While we recognize that there is an element of desperation behind hostage taking, but using human beings as bargaining tool is fraught with danger. Yet, the legitimacy of the grievances and the remedy sought cannot be denied. Their (Maoist) demands are also different from the usual demand for the release of an arrested leader or accused in return for the hostages. A stark reality also confronts us when we consider the institutional response to the hostage taking of police constables in Chhattisgarh and shortly thereafter of a District Collector of Malkangiri in Orissa. The five policemen taken hostage received little notice. But the police administration in Bastar went out of its way to remove/tear posters of CPI (Maoist) which explained what their demands were and why they had abducted the police personnel. The abduction of the district collector, on the other hand, elicited a different response. The national media descended on Malkangiri for the very first time and the public, for the first time, got to know that there were tribals in Orissa who were not rehabilitated by projects undertaken in Orissa’s Malkangiri and Koraput districts forty to fifty years ago! The public also got to know that in Narayanpatna (Koraput), where hundreds of tribals were arrested for being Maoists, tribals had been agitating for restoring lands occupied generations ago by non-tribals and the lands they worked on as bonded labour, attached to the very people who had occupied their land! Would this ground reality, known to civil right activists for years, have come to the notice of the wider Indian public in any other way? If this was possible, without hostage taking, then why was nothing done until now? It is this pitting of law and morality as a counter-weight to the harsh reality faced by people that is disturbing. In long-neglected areas that have become conflict zones now, Rule of Law does not operate and people are subjected to Police Raj under the pretext of suppressing Maoist insurgency. Illegal arrests of ordinary Indians by police and their incarceration, or the plight of their kith and kin, counts for nothing. But equally startling is the fact that in Chattisgarh, the government showed no desire to negotiate the release of the five police personnel. Presumably, they were not senior enough to merit the administration’s attention. Therefore, the local and national media too showed indifference to the issues raised by the Maoists through their demand. In contrast, the Orissa government, because an officer belonging to the IAS cadre was involved, negotiations took place and the demands raised by CPI(Maoists) were considered. In both the instances, the demands were perfectly legitimate, constitutional and just. This is also a reminder that conflict zones in India in general and Bastar (Chattisgarh) in particular, have become no-go areas where the Constitution does not operate and arbitrary approach takes precedence over lawful conduct. It is this lawless climate, brought about by ‘Operation Greenhunt’, which is singularly alarming. If we are opposed to the politics of hostage taking, does jailing of people for daring to protest their conditions and making perfectly legitimate demands, or merely belonging to interior villages, anything other than a ‘legally’ sanctioned abduction? Similarly, if hostage taking by the CPI (Maoist) is wrong but the demands raised by them are legitimate, should we not ensure that the state government complies with the demands? ". gautam On 2/2/12, gautam navlakha <[email protected]> wrote: > On 2/1/12, Niloufer Bhagwat <[email protected]> wrote: >> No right thinking person supports the larger war for seizure of land and >> water resources >> and the habitat of the Indigenous people of the region and the peasantry >> . >> >> Indiscriminate arrests and police repression whereever they occur are >> unacceptable . >> >> Niloufer Bhagwat >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: Kavita Krishnan >> To: [email protected] >> Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 10:45 PM >> Subject: Re: [humanrights-movement:5519] Garhwa update from Kavita >> ...she >> is travellling >> >> >> Dear Gautam, >> Yes, I am in touch with Jharkhand people, and you are right, efforts >> are >> being made at various levels. The police is being adamant too, and is >> making >> little serious effort to mediate. >> The two missing CPI(ML) comrades have now been released. But the two >> who >> are said to be in jail - Ramdas Minz and Fida Husain - their families >> have >> not been allowed to meet them. So they too are operating on the >> assumption >> that these two are presumed missing till families are allowed to meet. >> And >> in any case, the struggle to get the cases against them withdrawn is >> on... >> I recall the report you mention very well, and it is an admirable one - >> one among the very many appreciable efforts made by PUDR and other >> organisations and individuals to bring reason to a war that is, as you >> say, >> not of our making but imposed by the State alone, and that we are all >> resisting according to our rights... >> Kavita >> >> >> >> On 31 January 2012 19:44, gautam navlakha <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> kavita, >> your anxiety is justified. i spoke to shashi bhushan pathak >> just before he left for meeting the local leadership of maoists party >> at garhwa. police and maoists have agreed to 14 hours ceasefire. he >> told me that he would be asking the maoists to immediately and >> unconditionally release the guard (a police personnel). maoist demand >> was for removal of police pickets from three villages as well as >> cessation of the operations. he was told by police that this was not >> a >> matter they could decide on their own since civil administration is >> unwilling. but they wanted the mediation to go on to see what could >> be >> done. so my plea is when the mediation is on let us wait and see what >> comes of it. >> can we also give some attention to the cpi(ml) activists who have >> been >> arrested and discuss how best to highlight this case...? >> having said this please i draw everyone's attention to a report which >> pudr, pucl and swami agnivesh released after the release of 5 police >> personnel in bastar (2011) where we talk about hostage taking and the >> challenge it poses to democratic forces. please check it out on >> pudr.org. >> beyond all this even when we critique the maoists there is a larger >> war that still goes on. >> gautam >> >> >> On 1/31/12, Kavita Krishnan <[email protected]> wrote: >> > According to the mediator asked for by the Maoists, there have not >> been >> > death threats. But there have indeed been demands in exchange for >> release >> > of the hostage. If these demands are not met by the state, what >> will >> be the >> > fate of the hostage? Not sure. >> > >> > On 31 January 2012 12:30, Niloufer Bhagwat <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> > >> >> >> ** >> >> >> Threatening to kill hostages, if true , is not revolutionary >> activity . >> >> >> >> Niloufer Bhagwat >> >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> >> >> *From:* Kavita Krishnan <[email protected]> >> >> *To:* [email protected] >> >> *Sent:* Tuesday, January 31, 2012 12:13 PM >> >> *Subject:* Re: [humanrights-movement:5514] Garhwa update from >> Kavita >> >> >> ...she is travellling >> >> >> >> Actually, it's difficult to verify the demands of the Maoists vis >> a >> vis >> >> the guards - all one has is what comes out in the name of their >> >> 'spokesperson' in the media, which may well be wrong or planted. >> But >> the >> >> guard is still a hostage, that's for certain. And I don't think >> the >> >> Maoists >> >> have refuted the demands being attributed to them - viz, lifting >> of >> Green >> >> Hunt in the zone and removal of a police picket. If indeed there >> is >> some >> >> effort at mediation that's very welcome. >> >> >> >> On 29 January 2012 17:12, gautam navlakha <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >> >> >>> the information regarrting the guard is wrong. indeed maoists >> have >> >>> asked shashi bhusahn pathak of pucl to act as a mediator in this >> >>> matter. this is being flashed in ranchi and anyone can call and >> >>> confirm.the rest of the info. is however cause for much >> concern.there >> >>> is NO statement from maoists threatening to kill him were their >> >>> demands not met. >> >>> gautam >> >>> >> >>> On 1/29/12, Ranjana <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> > >> >>> > >> >>> > * Some of the arrested comrades are in jail but two of >> those >> >>> arrested on >> >>> > January 21st, Budlal Kerketta and Mahfuz Ansari, are missing >> from >> >>> > custody.There can only be speculation that they might be so >> badly >> >>> injured >> >>> > that the police is treating them before producing in court. >> >>> > >> >>> > * The guard is still being held hostage by the Maoists. >> And >> there >> >>> have been >> >>> > threats to kill him if demands are not met - demands of lifting >> the >> >>> green >> >>> > hunt operation in the zone, mainly. His wife and mother >> attempted >> self >> >>> > immolation outside the thana in Garhwa yesterday the 28th. >> >>> > * The 'lathicharge' during the bandh on 24 Jan was no >> ordinary >> >>> one, but a >> >>> > particularly vengeful and brutal assault. The DSP himself >> stamped >> with >> >>> boots >> >>> > on Kalicharan Mehta, and similar brutal assaults resulted in >> severe >> >>> injury >> >>> > and broken arm of 70-year-old Kishore Kumar, a broken leg for >> another >> >>> > comrade, and severe injuries for Comrade Rahina, another >> elected >> woman >> >>> > representative of Danda panchayat. >> >>> > * Since Sushma was released, the police are now >> implicating >> >>> her as part of >> >>> > the plot, and trying to get the guard's family to do dharna at >> >>> Sushma's >> >>> > house etc demanding that she be booked for the conspiracy to >> perpetrate >> >>> the >> >>> > blast and the abduction. >> >>> > >> >>> > -- >> >>> > 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]. >> >>> > For more options, visit this group at >> >>> > http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en. >> >>> > >> >>> > >> >>> >> >>> -- >> >>> 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]. >> >>> For more options, visit this group at >> >>> http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en. >> >>> >> >>> >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> >> Kavita Krishnan >> >> 9560756628 >> >> >> >> -- >> >> 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]. >> >> For more options, visit this group at >> >> http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en. >> >> >> >> -- >> >> 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]. >> >> For more options, visit this group at >> >> http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en. >> >> >> > >> > >> > >> > -- >> > Kavita Krishnan >> > 9560756628 >> > >> > -- >> > 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]. >> > For more options, visit this group at >> > http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en. >> > >> > >> >> -- >> 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]. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en. >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> Kavita Krishnan >> 9560756628 >> >> >> >> -- >> 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]. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en. >> >> -- >> 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]. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en. >> >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. 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