Rape, torture by state forces in Lalgarh

Jhargram, (West Bengal): Rape, arson and torture are the allegations villagers here in West Bengal are making against state police. The government says it’s looking into the allegations.

But it’s a blow to a state police force which claims it is reaching out to the villagers as part of its battle against the Naxals in the state.

A 50-year old woman from Sonamukhi village, 15 kilometers from Jhargram town, alleges she was raped by the joint forces on the 30th of June. At least six women from this village have undergone medical tests at the Jhargram hospital after they alleged rape by the paramilitary forces. The reports are yet to come. But the women of Sonamukhi allege rape and torture during a joint forces raid in search of suspected Maoists.

A rape victim alleged: "I was tending cattle. They dragged me away (wails) and forced me onto a charpoy. They slapped me held me down and then raped me."

Bindu Mahato, alleged torture victim, says: "Two jawans were dragging my daughter-in-law into a house. I grabbed her and brought her here. (Weeps) And others followed. This is how they terrorize us."

A 76-year old woman, Sarabala Mahato from neighbouring Birihandi village, succumbed to injuries she allegedly sustained at the hands of the forces on the same day. At Sonamukhi, evidence of plundered households is still apparent.

The state government says that though jawan sustained bullet injuries during that raid, it is taking the victims’ allegations seriously.

Narayan Swaroop Nigam, district magistrate of West Midnapore, said: "Government is very serious to look into the genuine grievances of the local villagers. We have to investigate properly and if someone is found guilty, he will be taken to task."

Sonamukhi, like most villages of Bengal’s Jungalmahal region, is almost devoid of men who have fled for fear of being branded Maoists and subsequent torture and arrests. And caught in the crossfire of the rebels and the government troops are the women who have been left alone with their daily dose of fear.

At a time when the state government claims that it is reaching out to villagers to re-instill their confidence in the establishment, incidents like these have clearly pushed those efforts two steps back even before the first step forward was taken.

Bringing the culprits to book is the least that the government can do now to restore some amount of trust it has long lost among these people. IBN Live

Chhattisgarh Maoist attack: Congress, CPI workers among 6 arrested

However, associates and family members question police action

The Chhattisgarh police have arrested six men in Dantewada in connection with the July 6 attack on Congressman Avdesh Singh Gautam’s house in the district’s Kuakonda block in which two men were killed and two persons injured.

The accused have been identified as Channu Ram Mandavi, Anu Futane, Sudru Ram Kunjam, Andha, Harish Podiyam and Ramu Bhaskar.

At a press conference, the police said the six were arrested on Sunday and four “Bolero” jeeps and a motorcycle were also confiscated.

However, associates and family members of those apprehended have raised questions over the arrests.

“The case against Sudru Ram Kunjam is completely false and baseless,” said the former CPI MLA of Konta, Manish Kunjam. “Sudru is part of the Communist Party of India and member of the Dantewada district panchayat. He is innocent and has no connection to the July 6 attack.”

Channuram Mandavi is a former member of the block-level panchayat of Kuakonda. His wife, Bhimebai Mandavi, told The Hindu that her husband is a Congress worker. “He is innocent, I don’t know why the police arrested him,” she said.

“The police picked up Sudru at 8.45 a.m. on Friday [July 9],” said Ediyaram Kunjam, Sudru’s brother, “They did not tell us why they were arresting him or where he was being taken.”

If true, Ediyaram’s account suggests that the police detained Sudru for 56 hours before making his arrest public. Further, if Sudru was indeed picked up on July 9, his arrest would violate Section 57 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which mandates that the police produce the accused before a magistrate within 24 hours of the arrest.

Bhimebai Mandavi also said her husband was picked up at noon on July 10, and not on Sunday. “They came about 11.30 in the morning and took him from our house,” she said.

In their release, the police also claim to be investigating the role of “Javed” — who the police identify as “Javed, formerly associated with the Vanvasi Chetna Ashram (VCA) in Kawalnar, Dantewada” — in allegedly videotaping the July 6 attack at the behest of Maoists.

Javed Iqbal strongly denied the police’s assertions. “While I did stay at the VCA in the past when I was a freelance journalist, I didn’t even visit the site of the July 6 attack for my story,” said Iqbal. “I interviewed the wounded at the hospital in Jagdalpur,” he said.

This is the second time the Dantewada police have targeted Iqbal. On May 17, 2009, he was assaulted for taking photographs of the demolition of the residential quarters of the VCA, a Dantewada-based NGO. The Hindu

Peoples March May-June 2010

Women Martyrs in the shining path of struggles and sacrifices

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Poverty of the Intellectual mind and Enlightened mind of the Backward Adivasi—A Reply by Azad, Spokesperson, CPI(Maoist) to BG Verghese

This is a rejoinder the slain CPI (Maoist) spokesperson had penned in response to B.G. Verghese’s article in Outlook Chemkuri Azad Rajkumar. Source: Outlook

Reading B.G. Verghese’s article Daylight at the Thousand-Star Hotel in Outlook (May 3), one is stunned by the abysmal poverty of thought and colonial mindset of this renowned intellectual. How is it that the illiterate, seemingly uncivilised, backward, half-naked adivasi thinks, analyses and acts a lot better than an established, well-read, highly qualified intellectual like Verghese?

The history of freedom in our country presents innumerable such contrasts: of the highly educated white man, with his vast, in-depth knowledge of the world and the natural and social sciences, glorifying the British raj as a regime with a civilising mission; and the half-naked, illiterate Indian who craved for freedom and independence. To justify the oppression of their subjects in the colonies, the “educated” colonial intellectuals invented phrases such as “white man’s burden”, “civilising mission” et al. The freedom fighter, however, was not impressed by the ‘development’ the British colonialists brought to India through their railways, roads, communication networks, plantations, mines etc.

Verghese is a typical example of the self-proclaimed civilisers of modern-day India, akin to the white ‘civilisers’ of yesteryear, who would have been the pride of a Rudyard Kipling. He reveals this colonial mindset by vehemently arguing in favour of the civilising mission of the corporate sharks and the Indian State to transform the poor, backward adivasis from savages into civilised people through a ‘development’ that destroys people’s economy, social life, culture and all human values. Ironically, ignoramuses like him imagine that adivasis are the casualties of non-development.

The corporate vultures and their police servants have said, through Verghese, what they think of a dialogue with the Maoists. Citing from my interview in The Hindu, Verghese gives his own interpretation to my proposal for talks. He derides my statement that “talks will give some respite to the people who are oppressed and suppressed under the jackboots of the Indian State…” and interprets this as “respite for the oppressed (cadres)”. Such is the wishful imagination, cynicism, trivialisation and vulgarisation of a life-and-death question confronting millions of hapless people!

Verghese also thinks that lifting the ban on our party, release of jailed leaders for the purpose of participating in talks, and respite for the oppressed are unreasonable preconditions. Would anyone, except Verghese and other war-hungry hawks, imagine that the Maoists had placed respite as a precondition? We had only explained why we think a ceasefire is necessary to give respite to the oppressed and suppressed people in the war-torn zones.

In any war, there can be several periods of peace depending on many factors such as natural calamities which affect a significant chunk of the population and need relative peace for reconstruction and assistance to the victims; war of aggression by another country which calls for the united resistance of one and all; war fatigue among the people and even the belligerents; chronic famine conditions for a sizeable proportion of the people arising basically out of prolonged periods of war; the needs of either side for a respite for various reasons, and so on. However, it is only when both sides in the war feel the need for peace that a mutual ceasefire and a situation for initiating a dialogue will arise.

Verghese does not speak like an impartial observer but betrays his conscious motive of tarnishing the Maoists with his ideologically bankrupt rhetoric. His inherent bias is clear from several of his remarks, such as his accusation that the Maoists pose like “Robin Hoods but rule by fear and authoritarian command over cowed camp-followers”. He further says: “Many comrades have broken rank in disgust over the Maoists’ brutality and hubris.” Can he cite any authentic source for his accusation, leaving out the disinformation campaign unleashed by the reactionary rulers and their police-intelligence wings? How many comrades have broken rank in disgust over our “brutality and hubris”? We challenge him to furnish a list.

Even the church of England got out of Vedanta. The colonialists seem more humane than the slavish intellectuals in former colonies.

For a common man who sees nothing but a culture of fear and authoritarianism everywhere, in virtually every party led by one or two authoritarian individuals whether it be Indira Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, L.K. Advani, M. Karunanidhi, Y.S.R. Reddy, Chandrababu Naidu, Jyoti Basu and so on, it is difficult to imagine genuine democracy and mutual trust that is the hallmark of a proletarian party like ours. Maoists have never considered themselves Robin Hoods and have even undertaken deep reviews of how the cult of the individual is part of the bourgeois culture, and how the people are the real heroes. Besides a strong ideological-political unity, the Maoists are marked by their conscious effort to promote collective functioning right from the central committee to the mass organisation committees, which is one reason why every attempt to split the party has failed right from the time of K.G. Sathya Murthy and Kondapalli Seetharamayya in erstwhile PW or Bharath and Badal in erstwhile MCCI.

One is also dumbstruck to hear Verghese chide Arundhati Roy saying: “Why scoff at a cancer hospital built near Raipur by Vedanta, the aluminium corporate, or the proposed Vedanta University in coastal Orissa? Are these by definition all wicked enterprises?” He then goes on to repeat Ms Roy’s observations on the pathetic health conditions and lack of any healthcare in Dandakaranya and asks: “So where do we begin? By burning down the Vedanta hospital?”

Should one think it is because of his innocence or because of his false consciousness derived from the non-stop propaganda by the corporate sharks that Verghese poses such a foolish question? Vedanta might appear as a benevolent enterprise to Verghese, but life has taught the adivasis what it stands for. Even as Verghese comes forth as an apologist for the worst perpetrators of crimes against humanity, we find organisations like the Church of England, and several shareholders in Vedanta exhibiting better rationale by withdrawing their shares from Vedanta. Even the colonialists seem more humane and rational than the slavish intellectuals in their former colonies! Moreover, even the Supreme Court of India and the environment ministry have raised objections to the proposed Vedanta University and mining venture. Only a Chidambaram, who served as a member of its board of directors until 2004, and Verghese, with his “compassionate” colonial mindset of “civilising” the backward people, can stand up in support of vultures like Vedanta, Tata, POSCO, Jindal….

Verghese’s colonial mindset is at its best when he says: “Yes, there will be land acquisition and displacement—that is the story of civilisation; but there will also be resettlement, compensation and training for new vocations.” The adivasis and poor peasants in our country can never imagine how people like Verghese can distort history so shamelessly. Ask the 60 million people who have been displaced by the land acquisition of the “civilisers”. How and why such barbarism is called the story of civilisation, only Verghese knows best. To convince the sceptics, he further says: “Admittedly, this (resettlement, compensation) has not always been done wisely or well. But times are changing. New legal frameworks, better norms, closer monitoring, improved R&R and livelihood packages have continuously been put in place.”

Verghese here comes out as an incarnation of the typical Indian bureaucrat, like a G.K. Pillai. All intellectual pretence is shed here and he reveals himself as a loyal servant of the Indian comprador sharks. So why is all this hullabaloo about land acquisition and displacement being raked up by people like Arundhati Roy and others?

Where in india is your constitution prevailing? in Dantewada? In Lalgarh, Kashmir, Manipur? where was it hiding for 25 yrs after ’84?

Verghese states his imagined virtues of the corporates without a sense of shame: “There is much virtue in translating Gandhi’s concept of trusteeship in a new and evolving idiom of csr to which corporates, the state and courts have variously given expression. The new deals being worked out by the POSCOs, Vedantas, Tatas, Mittals and others are greatly in advance of what was on offer even five years ago.” What Verghese is trying to say is let the corporates enjoy the mineral wealth and loot the country at will as long as they throw some crumbs as charity or ‘social responsibility’ to the poor, helpless, wretched beings who are thrown out of their homes and lands. Why doesn’t Verghese visit Balitutha, Dhinkia and Nuagaon in Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa and convince the anti-POSCO agitators to understand the new paradise that is being built for them by his corporate bosses? Or visit Baligotha, Chandia and Baragadia in Kalinganagar to make the “backward” adivasis protesting against the Tata Steel project see reason? After centuries of rapacious plunder by capitalist gangs that has led to the monopoly control of the world’s resources by a handful of corporations, Verghese can actually call for a trusteeship by corporates!

Another interesting instance where Verghese distorts facts is in the growth in tribal populations. In order to disprove Arundhati Roy’s apprehension about the probable genocide of tribals due to the war waged by the Indian State, Verghese asserts that “the tribal population of India was 19.1 million in 1951, rose to 84.3 mn according to the 2001 census and is estimated to be just short of 100 mn (8.1 per cent of the population) today.” Had he exerted a little effort, he would have known that the seemingly huge growth in the population figures of scheduled tribes in India is not because of an increase in the population of the tribes but due to the inclusion of several hitherto non-tribals in the ST category.

Verghese’s attitude towards the occupation of schools by the security forces is also criminally casual. He says: “Yes, schools in Naxal-affected areas are often occupied by security forces, not to prevent education but because schooling and other developmental activities, such as they are, have come to a halt.” Even worse, he accuses the Maoists of opposing schools and of being interested only in “agitprop centres to indoctrinate the young”. This reveals the extent of indoctrination this intellectual mind has been subjected to by the omnipotent imperialist media and the servile education system he is a product of. He goes on to say, “Development and connectivity threaten them. Hence they destroy roads, culverts, bridges. Hence the wanton attacks on railway and highway projects that would, if completed, connect and open up remote, backward areas. If education, health services, roads, irrigation, markets and communications are provided and poverty rolled back, the Maoists would be out of business.”

Throughout his article, Verghese acts as an apologist for the reactionary deeds of the rulers; and at times his language is indistinguishable from that of Chidambaram. For instance, Chidambaram too said at JNU recently: “Maoists want to ensure the tribals were inaccessible and incommunicado (from mainstream) by blowing up buildings, railway tracks and targeting developmental projects. Are they trying to create an archaeological museum in the tribal areas by keeping the tribals away from development?”

While one can understand Chidambaram, as a loyal representative of the corporate sharks, uttering such trash, it’s really amusing to see intellectuals like Verghese imagining such things and drawing fantastic and subjective conclusions. On several occasions, we have clarified these questions. We have explained why we are targeting roads, bridges etc. Let alone opposing, our party has even led people’s struggles demanding the setting up of schools, appointment of teachers, health services, markets, irrigation and so on. In fact, seeing the utter apathy of the rulers, we ourselves have set up schools, dug wells and tanks to develop irrigation and increase productivity and yields of crops, organised cooperatives, trained local doctors, built roads and bridges deep inside the forest.

Why would Maoists be threatened by development and connectivity? If Verghese and his brand of intellectuals think that concrete roads are the barometer of development, they are living in a fool’s paradise. He falls prey to the ruling class scheme of development that displaces the adivasis and destroys their lives, lands and cultures. He says roads and railways open up remote backward areas. For whom? For the people or for a handful of mining and industrial companies, forest contractors and police tormentors who make adivasi lives a veritable hell?

Even more amusing is Verghese’s allegation that the Maoists are working only among the adivasis and that they will be “out of business” once the adivasi areas become developed. He does not even know the programme of the Maoists, which is to mobilise the vast majority of the suffering people throughout the country. Can the Maoists seize power and establish the “totalitarian state” Verghese is talking of without organising the non-adivasi majority living in the advanced regions of the country?

Verghese refers to the Salwa Judum as a savage blot but concludes that “strategic hamleting” was confined to one district and prevented from being extended to any other district, even in Chhattisgarh. But who prevented it and how, he prefers to be silent on. It has been the heroic resistance, armed and unarmed, by the adivasi masses led by the Maoists since the end of 2005 that has upset the devious plans of the reactionary rulers to uproot the entire adivasi population. He doesn’t say that Salwa Judum was defeated and prevented from creating havoc in newer areas because the Maoists and the adivasi masses had dealt a death blow to this state-sponsored terrorist gang by carrying out daring militant offensives such as in Ranibodili and Errabore; that the rulers had never given up their fond wish to drive the entire adivasi population into strategic hamlets; and that Salwa Judum Part II unleashed by the Sonia-Manmohan-Chidambaram gang is precisely to achieve that unfinished goal.

Lastly, Herr Verghese fondly hopes: “The Maoists will fade away, democratic India and the Constitution will prevail, despite the time it takes and the pain involved.” If the Maoists fade away by the superiority of your development model, then why are the advocates of your development keen on brutally suppressing the Maoists and the adivasis they are leading? In which part of India is the Constitution prevailing, Mr Verghese? In Dantewada, Bijapur, Kanker, Narayanpur, Rajnandgaon? In Jharkhand, Orissa? In Lalgarh, Jangalmahal? In the Kashmir Valley? Manipur? Where was your Constitution hiding for 25 long years after thousand of Sikhs where massacred? When thousands of Muslims were decimated? When lakhs of peasants are compelled to commit suicides? When thousands of people are murdered by state-sponsored Salwa Judum gangs? When adivasi women are gangraped? When people are simply abducted by uniformed goons? Your Constitution is a piece of paper that does not even have the value of a toilet paper for the vast majority of the Indian people.

Finally, this comment by Verghese—“People’s Tribunals keep mouthing yesterday’s tired slogans…. They do not see tomorrow; maybe they fear it”—applies more to people like him. He keeps mouthing yesterday’s outdated, monotonous slogans like “end of history”, “there-is-no-alternative”, “demise of Communism”, “totalitarian state”, and so on. He does not see tomorrow. He even fears it. The spectre of Communism sends shivers down his spine.

The War in On

July 9, 2010

http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/the-war-is-on

‘Dear Swami Agniveshji…’ Thus began a small step that could have ensured long-lasting peace across India’s Naxal-affected zones, virtually half the country. That letter written by top Maoist leader Azad was addressed to Swami Agnivesh, the social activist chosen by the Centre to hold talks with the CPI (Maoist). Things were moving, and there was the optimism that after an endless cycle of violence, peace could finally be achieved. But before that could happen, Azad was killed by the police in what appears to be a fake encounter. With his death, current hopes of peace have all but vanished. Senior Maoist leader Kishenji reacted immediately to Azad’s killing, calling the ruling Congress party “a big betrayer”.

Open has now learnt from top Maoist sources that much progress had been made towards holding talks with the Government. Azad, as per these sources, was carrying Swami Agnivesh’s letter to the CPI (Maoist)’s guerilla zone in Bastar to discuss it with the Dandakaranya Committee of the party. He had already discussed it with other regional committees, and was moving fast from one place to another to expedite the talks. “This is what the intelligence agencies took advantage of, and managed to zero in on Azad,” says a Maoist leader. Azad was allegedly nabbed from the Nagpur railway station, taken to the forests of Adilabad in Andhra Pradesh (in a helicopter, believe Maoists), and shot dead in cold blood along with another person. “They had been trailing him since March, when they almost got him,” says Gudsa Usendi, spokesperson of CPI (Maoist)’s Dandakaranya Special Zone Committee, where Azad was headed.

It is believed that both Maoists and the Centre had agreed on a mutual ceasefire for a period of three days, after which a formal letter was to be sent by the Home Ministry, inviting the CPI (Maoist) for talks. Maoists had laid down no conditions for the ceasefire; and Maoist sources claim that no terms were set for the talks either. But Swami Agnivesh was told that to turn the atmosphere conducive for talks, the Government could lift the ban on the CPI (Maoist) and free four top Maoist leaders lodged in various jails. These are: Kobad Ghandy, Amitabha Bagchi, Sushil Roy and Narayan Sanyal. “Lifting the ban seemed important to us because that way an overground organisation and not a banned organisation would have held talks with New Delhi,” says a Central Committee member of the CPI (Maoist).

In fact, Azad had made this clear in his letter to Swami Agnivesh, dated 31 May. ‘You are also aware of the difficulties involved for an underground party that is proscribed by the Government for talks. Hence we had proposed the release of political prisoners from the jails. At the outset, the Government can take the initiative to release at least some of our Party leaders, so as to facilitate talks with them,’ he wrote.

In the letter, Azad also writes that the ceasefire period should be much longer than 72 hours.

‘Our party is very serious about bringing about peace, especially at the present juncture when lakhs of Adivasis had fled, and are fleeing their homes; when lakhs of Adivasis are facing chronic conditions of hunger and famine due to their ouster from their lands… one should not be swayed by victories and defeats at this critical juncture in the life of the Adivasi community in our country, but try to create conditions whereby their survival is ensured,’ he opines in the same letter.

On 28 June, Swami Agnivesh responded to Azad’s letter. Though he remains tightlipped about its contents, Maoist sources who have seen that written response say that three slabs (15 July, 20 July and 25 July) were offered to the CPI (Maoist) to begin the 72-hour ceasefire.

With this letter, Maoist leaders say, Azad alighted at the Nagpur railway station on the morning of 1 July, from where he was supposed to go and meet another leader, Sahadev. Azad and his wife Sitakka would have been taken to Bastar by Sahadev. But before the two could meet, Azad was allegedly nabbed by the Andhra police. His wife is still missing. Another person who the police picked up turned out to be a journalist—Hem Chandra Pandey.

In the Maoist hierarchy, Azad whose real name was Cherukuri Rajkumar, held a very special position. A BTech in Chemical Engineering from Warangal’s Regional Engineering College (he had left his MTech course half way), he was the second president of the Radical Students Union, and in 1990, was inducted into the Central Committee (CC) of the then People’s War Group (PWG). This later merged with another Maoist group MCC to form the CPI (Maoist) in 2004. In the CPI (Maoist), he continued as a CC member, working as the party’s central spokesperson for years. He was very close to the chief of the CPI (Maoist), General Secretary Ganapathi, and tipped to be the next Maoist chief. According to reports, he had recently been appointed by the party to run its operations in south India. He was also appointed by his party to oversee talks between Maoists and the Andhra Pradesh government in 2004.

With his death, party cadres are baying for revenge. The north regional bureau of CPI (Maoist) has said its cadres would avenge the ‘cold-blooded murder of Comrade Azad’. Already, a four-day bandh has been announced by Maoists, and there are credible threats of big attacks on security forces—a measure to demonstrate their anger. “On 28 June, you send a letter and two days later you kill the messenger,” says GN Saibaba, a Delhi-based activist. “The Government knew very well that Azad was trying to build a consensus for talks within the CPI (Maoist). In his seven meetings with Home minister Chidambaram, Swami Agnivesh made it clear that Azad was the man he was communicating with. And yet, they killed Azad knowing fully well who he was and what he was up to. Isn’t it clear now that Manmohan Singh and his Home Minister don’t want talks to happen?” asks a top Maoist leader.

Ironically, in the same letter, Azad had expressed doubts about the Home Minister’s intent. ‘Do you really believe that Mr Chidambaram is earnest in proposing talks when there are reports of how the central government is equipping its forces with several more choppers and preparing the Indian Army too for the war on people?’ he asks.

Swami Agnivesh, on his part, has this to say: “His (Azad’s) death has been a big disappointment, but now it has become even more important to hold talks.” (See his exclusive interview with Open).

The sad reality is that talks are unlikely to make any headway now. The CPI (Maoist) is busy trying to consolidate its position, now that a number of senior leaders have been killed or arrested in the recent past. A number of vacancies in the party’s Politburo and Central Committee (the highest decision-making body in the party) need to be filled.

Already, news is trickling in that Azad’s place will be taken by another senior Maoist leader, Mallojula Venugopal alias Sonu, who also happens to be Kishenji’s brother. Once that is achieved, Maoist leaders say, they will be back to ambushes. And this time, it’s going to be a long, bloody war.

SO WHY ARE THESE MEN IN JAIL?

Thirteen persons have been arrested in Gujarat as Maoists since February. But they are merely human rights activists, not Reds.

by Pragya Tiwari, Tehalka

ALL OF June 17, Anju had no idea where her husband was. She couldn’t have imagined even in a nightmare that 41-year-old Abdul Shakeel Basha had been picked up from near his house in RK Puram by the Special Cell of Delhi Police as he was leaving for work. Later that evening they brought him back to his house. The plainclothes policemen told her nothing except that they were from the Special Cell, taking her to a separate room for interrogation. After a thorough search, they confiscated Basha’s passport, credit cards, laptop and some books. No search or arrest warrant or seizure memo was produced, and despite Anju’s pleas she was not told why her husband was being taken away again.

Climate of fear Shrinivas Kurapati, an employee of NGO Darshan, arrested from Ahmedabad in May

Through the night, Basha’s wife and friends including some lawyers tried to ascertain whether he was detained by the Special Cell and why. No information whatsoever was forthcoming. Next morning, they woke up to media reports that a ‘wanted’ Maoist by the name of Shakeel Pasha had been arrested in Delhi.

Clearly, police sources were less reticent in telling the media about Shakeel’s arrest than they were in letting his family in on it. But there was more than one discrepancy in their account. To begin with, his last name is Basha, not Pasha. He is known to Delhi’s civil society as anything but a ‘Maoist’.

In the preceding months, similar stories have played out in several homes in Gujarat. Basha is 13th in a line of people arrested under FIR number 1-37/2010 Police station Kamrej, Surat range, dated 26th of February, u/s 120(B), 121(A), 124(A), 153 A&B of the IPC, and Sec 38, 39 and 40 of the UAPA, 2004. The police claim all the detainees are involved in a conspiracy to start a Maoist revolution in Gujarat and parts of north Maharashtra. But there is little evidence to support this claim. On the contrary, most of these people are widely known for their social activism in one of two areas — tribal welfare or rights of industrial workers.

The Maoist and the undelivered missive. Azad’s death is no man’s peace

TUSHA MITTAL, Tehalka

SOCIAL ACTIVIST Swami Agnivesh sits in his room at 7 Jantar Mantar, perplexed, battling a strange sense of guilt. For the past few months, he has been mediating a backroom dialogue between the Government of India and the CPI(Maoist). Since May 2010, Agnivesh had facilitated the exchange of two letters between the warring parties. On June 26, he dispatched a third letter to top Maoist leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad. “The peace process was at a critical juncture. A very positive response was expected,”

Agnivesh told TEHELKA. “I was to receive a date from which talks could begin.” Much to his horror, what he received instead was news that Azad — the receipent of his letter — had been killed in the forests of Andhra Pradesh. “It is possible that Azad let his guard down because of my last letter,” Agnivesh said. “It is a great loss for all of us, including the government. Azad was a key person and most favourably disposed to the peace process. We must ensure that his death does not derail the possibility of peace.”

But the Home Ministry has a different view. “I don’t think this is a setback to the peace process. We had not received any positive response from CPIMaoist,” Home Secretary GK Pillai told TEHELKA.

Prize kill The bodies of Maoist leader Azad (top) and Hem Chandra Pandey (bottom)

For every conversation that leaps us forward, there are strings that pull us back. The rhetoric of Maoists killing 27 CRPF men two days before Azad’s death is one such shackle. Reading that attack as an indication that the Maoists were not serious about peace would be misleading. The on-going backroom dialogue was aimed at deciding a date from which a mutual cessation of violence would begin. Until such a date was arrived at, it was understood the violence would continue from both sides. And it did. In the weeks leading up to Azad’s death — five maoists were killed in Lalgarh, several maoist sympathisers were arrested, and adiviasi women continued to be raped by the forces. The Maoists too continued to kill.

The reason why Azad’s death must be seen outside this cycle of violence is because Azad was a key and unlikely salesman of truce, carrying Swami Agnivesh — and by default P Chidam – baram’s message to comrades in Dandakaranya. “Azad was building consensus for a ceasefire within the party. He had our full mandate. Now the government has shown it was never interested in talks,” Usendi, Maoist spokesperson of the Dandakaranya Special Zone Committee, told TEHELKA.

While the first two letters have been made public, the third letter remains confidential. Sources have told TEHELKA of its contents — and it indicates how close both parties were to the possibility of dialogue. That is what makes Azad’s death significant, almost poignant. For the hundreds of adivasis and soldiers trapped in this war, it means a bleaker, bloodier future. Already the Maoists have vowed revenge when they could have been inching toward peace.

While the first two letters have been made public, the third letter remains confidential. Sources have told TEHELKA of its contents — and it indicates how close both parties were to the possibility of dialogue. That is what makes Azad’s death significant, almost poignant. For the hundreds of adivasis and soldiers trapped in this war, it means a bleaker, bloodier future. Already the Maoists have vowed revenge when they could have been inching toward peace.

“This is a fascist State dreaming that peace will come back by liquidating people,” says G Haragopal, one of the mediators in the 2004 Andhra talks. “Such reactions show an insecure and unconfident State.” Azad’s killing in a gunbattle with the police in the remote forests of Andhra Pradesh, was hailed as one of the biggest catches since the goverment launched a joint-offensive against the Maoists in 2009. Azad was No 3 in the Maoist ranks, a politburo member, Central Committee spokesperson, and a close aide to Maoist chief Ganapathi.

AP: Journalists protest against comrade’s killing

Hemchandra Pandeys wife Babita cries over his coffin in new delhi on wednesday. Picture by ramakant kushwahExpress News Service

HYDERABAD: There was mild tension at Basheerbagh as media personnel made a vain bid to take out a procession with the body of Hemchandra Pandey, the journalist gunned down by the police in the company of Maoist leader Azad in the forests of Adilabad district last week.

Police prevented them from marching to the Basheerbagh crossroads, sparking off heated argument. Miffed, journalists hunkered down on the road and shouted slogans against the encounter killing.

Pandey’s body was brought in an ambulance to the old Press Club at Basheerbagh around 2 pm. Amid slogans of `Hemchandra Pandey Amar Hai,’ his mortal remains were placed outside the club to allow journalists to pay their last respects.Senior journalists and civil rights activists including singer Gadar and Virasam member Varavara Rao and others paid last respects to the journalist.

Journalists condemned the killing of Pandey and demanded that all `encounters’ be treated as murders and action taken against the policemen involved in the killing.After the tributes were paid, journalists tried to take the body in a procession to Basheerbagh crossroads but a huge posse of policemen, already deployed anticipating trouble, stopped them right in front of the Press Club.

Body of Hemant Pandey was brought to New Delhi on Tuesday night

Irked media men squatted on the main thoroughfare, leading to a traffic jam on it.

Some journalists picked up a heated argument with the policemen.The body was later taken to the Shamshabad international airport from where it was to be taken to Delhi for the final rites.

Pandey’s wife Babita once again emphasized that her husband was a journalist and that she had proof of it. Even if he was a Maoist sympathiser, police have no right to kill him in a fake encounter.

He should have been produced in court,’’ an inconsolable Babita said. She said she would approach the High Court against the fake encounter.

Pandey’s family said the body would be donated to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi.Earlier in the day, Babita took possession of her husband’s body from the Bellampally Singareni Government Hospital in Adilabad district.Journalists of Adilabad district contributed funds to shift the body to Hyderabad.

IJU, APUWJ demand probeHYDERABAD:
The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) and the AP Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ) today demanded an inquiry by an independent authority into the killing of Hemchandra Pandey, a freelance journalist, in an encounter along with top Maoist leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad in Adilabad last week.

Agnivesh seeks judicial probe into Azad killing

By Madhuparna Das,  Indian Express

Medha Patkar and Agnivesh in Kolkata.: Medha Patkar and Agnivesh in Kolkata. Subham Dutta

Peace talks between the Centre and the CPI(Maoist) will not proceed further if the Union government does not institute a judicial inquiry into the killing of Cherukiri Rajkumar alias Azad on July 2, said Swami Agnivesh, the mediator between the two sides. The judicial probe will have to ascertain whether the encounter in which Azad was killed was fake, said the swami. He will press this demand when he meets Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday.

Speaking at a convention organised by the National Alliance of People’s Movement in Kolkata, Agnivesh — with Medha Patkar at his side — said, “We will never allow the peace process to be derailed. Azad was at the forefront of initiating the process and if the initiatives become successful, it will be the greatest tribute to Azad. But tomorrow (Thursday), I will meet Chidambaram and ask him to order a judicial probe into Azad’s killing. We all want to know whether he was killed in a fake encounter or a genuine encounter.

Until we get the report, the peace process cannot be pursued,” said Agnivesh.

Police Repression On Dongria Kondh Tribals Of Niyamagiri

Just before the visit of Dr. N.C. Saxsena committe formed by the Ministry of Enviornment and Forest to assess the impact of mining by Vedant company, the police and administration began terrorising the local tribals. The above five membered sommittee is supposed to visit the Dangaria/Dongria tribal hamlets adjecient to the mining area between 7th-9th July. But before their arrival to make a panic among the tribals the Kalahandi police along with company goons raided different villages and demolished the Niyamraja, the sacred deity of Dongria’s which was situated on the hill top of Niyamgiri mountain. On 1st July more than 40 armed CRPF personal along with the Lanjigarh police and some Vedanta agent like Jitu Jakasika entered in to the Lakpadar village of Parsali G.P of Kalyansingpur block of Rayagada district about 11 am and threatening them not to go against the company, because the Govt. has already given the Niyamagiri mountain to Vedant. If they dare to oppose the mining then the leaders will be booked in Maoist cases. Due to hectic agricultural activities these days, majority of people particularly the man folk were not present at that time. Then the police beaten up one Sani Sikkaka (35 yrs) and misbehaved the women of that village. Similar things were repeated in villages Dangamati and Garta village.

On behalf of CPI(ML) New Democracy Orissa state committee we condem this inhuman and undemocratic act of Kalahandi police in the interest of a private company, Vedant to supress the Dongria tribals so that they cannot voice their dissent in front of the N.C. Saxsena committee. We appeal the committe members to take note of this incidence and give fair chance to Dangria people to express their dissent.

Bhala chandra Shadangi

Spokesperson, Orissa state committee

CPI(ML) New Democracy

‘Here is evidence’

Babita, widow of Hemachandra Pandey, the journalist who was killed along with Maoist leader Azad in a fake encounter, weeps during her meeting with home minister Sabita Indra Reddy, right. Also seen is Pandey’s brother Mahesh Pandey.

NEW DELHI: The controversial Adilabad encounter got a fresh twist on Monday with Hemachandra Pandey’s wife and social activists producing documentary evidence to prove his credentials as journalist.Producing web copies of articles that Pandey wrote, his wife Babita has challenged Andhra Pradesh and Uttarakhand police claim of him not being a journalist but Maoist cadre.“Hemachandra Pandey wrote all his contributions to newspapers with the name Hemant Pandey as a freelance journalist. However, he never hid his identity.

He made legal certificate, affidavit that both names are his,’’ Babita said.Ironically, the latest article Pandey wrote was published on July 2, the day he was killed in an encounter along with CPI (Maoist) spokesperson Cehrukuri Rajkumar alias Azad.The middle piece published in Rashtriya Sahara, a leading national Hindi daily, dealt with the aspect of world food crisis in the light of government policy of selling agricultural land at cheap rates to investors.Interestingly, another article produced as evidence was published in Nai Duniya, whose editor, Alok Mehta, issued a clarification on Saturday saying that “no such person ever contributed or reported for any edition of the paper’’.