Indian Maoists Demand Safety for Captured Leader

The following is a statement of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Maoist).

COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST)

18 March 2010

PRODUCE COMRADE AZAD (CHERKURI RAJKUMAR), POLITBURO MEMBER AND SPOKESPERSON OF THE CPI (MAOIST) BEFORE THE COURT IMMEDIATELY,WHO WAS ABDUCTED BY POLICE AND INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES!

OBSERVE 48-HOUR BANDH ON 22-23 MARCH 2010 IN SIX STATES IN PROTEST OF KILLINGS OF PARTY LEADERS IN FAKE ENCOUNTERS, EXTRA-JUDICIAL DETENSIONS AND BRUTAL TORTURES!!

Notorious AP SIB once again killed two senior party leaders – Comrade Shakamuri Apparao and Comrade Kondal Reddy in two separate fake encounters on March 12, 2010. Comrade Apparao was abducted a few days back and Comrade Kondal Reddy was abducted on March 11th night from different places and the lawless killers of SIB shot them dead and concocted stories of encounter were released as usual.

On the same day, Politburo member and spokesperson of our party – CPI (Maoist)- Comrade Azad, whose real name is Cherukuri Rajkumar, was also abducted by these licensed killers. Comrade Azad was supposed to meet Comrade Apparao on that day and both were supposed to visit Dandakaranya Guerilla Zone. But we lost contact with him since then. Home minister P. Chidambaram and his police and intelligence officials might have definitely abducted him in a planned way.

While Comrades Apparao and Kondal Reddy were killed in cold blood in two separate fake encounters, Comrade Azad’s arrest has not been declared till now. We are afraid that police officials are torturing him in secret chambers and a conspiracy is underway to eliminate him physically. Particularly, AP SIB had killed so many Central Committee members of our Party in the past. Comrades Shyam, Mahesh, Murali, Chandramouli, Prasad along with several state and district level leaders were killed brutally by it after capturing them alive.

Dr. Binayak Sen: Operation Green Hunt Worsens People’s Health

This article appeared in the Indian Express on March 14, 2010.

Anti-Maoist action adding to malnutrition woes

National vice-president of People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) Dr Binayak Sen has said the action against Maoists is only accentuating the problem of malnutrition in tribal areas.

He was speaking at the sixth I G Khan Memorial Lecture on ‘Violence and justice in our times’ at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) on Saturday. Putting figures on the table to drive home his point, Dr Sen said malnutrition should be the most pressing concern of the government.

A person with a body mass index of less than 18.5 is malnourished. According to National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau, 33 per cent of adult Indians have a BMI of less than 18.5. If you disaggregate this, over 50 per cent Scheduled Tribes have a BMI of 18.5 or are undernourished. “The WHO says that any community of which over 40 per cent population has a BMI of 18.5 per cent is in a state of famine. By that standard, many communities in India are living in a state of famine. Orissa, whose 40 per cent population is undernourished, too, fits the bill.”