Not every constable is responsible for atrocities committed so it is
good that
the constable was released , though there are police and para military
squads
terrorizing local populations . There is tremendous oppression in the region
,
all the more reason why strategies to oppose repression must be carefully
considered and citizens all the while educated on the theft of land,
homestead,
waterand mineral resources of long neglected tribal regions and seizure of
whole villages , must link their voice with other citizens facing similar
injustice
in a democratic alliance of affected people from a range of occupations .
At the same time groups resorting to agent provocateur action for mercenary
gain to invite onslaught of security forces must be exposed .
Niloufer Bhagwat
----- Original Message -----
From: "gautam navlakha" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, February 03, 2012 9:59 AM
Subject: Re: [humanrights-movement:5527] Garhwa update from Kavita ...she is
travellling
this is a quick update. the constable was released by the maoists
yesterday. pucl jharkahnd's shashi bhushan pathak held a press
conference at garwha. and on reaching ranchi there will be a press
conference at 2pm today.
gautam
On 2/2/12, gautam navlakha <[email protected]> wrote:
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
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>>> Groups
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>>> >
>>> >
>>>
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>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Kavita Krishnan
>> 9560756628
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Kavita Krishnan
> 9560756628
>
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9560756628
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