Chhattisgarh Villager: “It is not the government that is helping us, but the Maoist cadres”

Villagers killed by paramilitaries and Special Police Officers

This transcript of a radio program appeared in Radio Australia on February 12, 2010.

More than just Maoists caught in India’s military offensive

The Indian government has vowed to unleash a massive offensive on Maoist rebels in five central and eastern Indian states, worst-hit by the insurgency. But there are voices of caution from civil society that an armed confrontation could further hurt the marginalised and largely indigenous populations in the worst affected states.

Presenter: Murali Krishnan, New Delhi
.  Speakers: Linga, Chhattisgarh resident accused of Maoist links; Himanshu Kumar, social activist, Bastar district in Chhattisgarh; Ajay Sahni, Indian strategic expert.

(Sounds of crows and farm equipment in open fields) 

KRISHNAN: For the last three months, Linga, a tribal from the central state of Chhattisgarh, the epicenter of Maoist violence in the country, has been living in the outskirts of the capital New Delhi working as a farm hand. He’s scared to go back to his village fearing that security forces will arrest him again on charges of being a Maoist sympathiser and helping the rebels. He managed to obtain bail after much difficulty in October last year and fled his village to seek temporary shelter. He is unsure when he’s going back.

LINGA: (Translation from Hindi) Villagers in my district feel helpless. We are being exploited, our land is being seized and it is not the government that is helping us, but the Maoist cadres. There is no law in place and though the country got independence, 60 years back we were left out. We still have to struggle, and fight for our levy.



Indian TV Report on Kishenji-“Impossible to Trace”

Kisenji: Public enemy who’s impossible to trace

After 24 policemen were massacred in West Midnapore on Tuesday, many of them burnt alive in their tents, Kishenji told NDTV: “This was our revenge for Operation Green Hunt.

http://www.ndtv.com/news/videos/video_player.php?id=1201884

Indian Workers Association-Britain Organizes against Green Hunt

Operation Green Hunt in Chhattisgarh

In Solidarity with Indian People

Many of you receiving this appeal have heard of Operation Green Hunt: the Indian State’s declaration of war against the Indian people. Though, the government of India tries to hide this massive military offensive by devising special tags and brand names for it in different regions and by denying that the Indian Army is deployed in this operation, the democratic sections in India have proved their point by bringing out the hard facts to the fore concretely and loudly.

The Indian State has amassed an array of military, air force, and paramilitary forces, apart from using elite police forces of different states,  exceeding a hundred thousand troops to clear the mineral rich areas of central and eastern parts of India of its populations, and to hand over the forcibly acquired land to corporations, foreign and Indian. Therefore acquisition of lands, hills, forests and natural resources of the tribal people, the poorest of poor of India, being the real objective behind this large-scale military offensive, the government wants the world believe that this war is against Naxalites or Maoists. But it is also clear that the exigency of this war against the impoverished Indian citizens by the government is to break the resistance of the people against acquisition of land and resources by the corporate sector.

Indian Maoists Overrun Police Camp in West Bengal

This article appeared on BBC News on February 16, 2010.

India Maoist Rebels Kill 24 Troops in West Bengal

At least 24 troops were killed when armed Maoists attacked a camp of the paramilitary forces in India’s West Bengal state, officials said. Nearly 50 rebels on motorcycles encircled the camp of the Eastern Frontier Rifles (ERF) at Silda village on Monday and started firing on it. More fighters joined the assault on foot, firing from automatic weapons.

More than 6,000 people have died during the rebels’ 20-year fight for communist rule in many Indian states. The Indian government recently began a major offensive against the rebels in several states. Indian Prime minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoist insurgency as India’s “greatest internal security challenge”. The rebels now have a presence in 223 of India’s 600-odd districts.

Landmines

The camp was overrun by the Maoists after the troops put up brief initial resistance, district magistrate of West Midnapore district NS Nigam told the BBC. “The Maoists then burnt down the camp and planted landmines on the entire length of the road leading to the camp. Reinforcements with night vision and anti-landmine vehicles reached the camp late at night,” Mr Nigam said. At least 24 bodies have been recovered from in and around the camp and some of them are badly charred, he said.