Chhattisgarh BJP turned Bastar into open warzone in run up to elections: FACAM

Counterview Desk

Commenting on the death of 29 persons in Bastar, which the security forces claimed as part of a massive operation against Maoists, the civil rights network* Forum Against Corporatization And Militarization (FACAM) has said that reports received by it suggest 17 of them were "not killed during the firing with the state forces."

In a statement, FACAM said, the 17 persons "were shot dead after they had been captured by the paramilitary personnel and were unarmed and injured when they were murdered", and there have been "reports of torture prior to this fake encounter have also surfaced".
Contending that tribals are living in a state of terror in Bastar area, FACAM said, villages like Palaguda, Ittaguda, Jilorgada, Gommaguda, and Kanchal, near the Bijapur-Sukma border have seem massive deployment of "American and Israel-manufactured rocket launchers and drones", leading to "intense amount of destruction" of trees being death of cattle.

"The people in the area narrowly escaped the attacks and experienced loss of property. Drones have been spotted continuously over the skies and there is an atmosphere of fear in the area. This is also the harvest season for Mahua flowers", it added.

Text:

On 7th April 2024, the Indian state conducted yet another aerial bombing in Bastar region, an act which has occurred for the fifth time in the area since 2021. In the same time period, on 16th April 2024, 29 Maoists were reportedly slain by a joint team of District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Border Security Forces (BSF) in a supposed anti-Naxal operation.

According to ground reports received by FACAM and several media reports, out of the 29 people killed in the encounter, 17 were not killed during the firing with the state forces, but were shot dead after they had been captured by the paramilitary personnel and were unarmed and injured when they were murdered. Reports of torture prior to this fake encounter have also surfaced.

Since 1st January 2024 when the Indian state unleashed Operation Kagaar in Abujmarh, numerous killings of unarmed Adivasi peasants in the name of countering Maoism have taken place, with nearly 100 killings taking place since 1st January 2024. Just this month, on 2nd April 2024 in Nendra village, in what was dubbed the “biggest anti-Naxal operation since 2017” by the Indian state where it proclaimed that it had killed 13 Maoists, Kamli Kunjam, a deaf Adivasi girl was killed in the same operation and at least one other villager was similarly shot dead during this operation.

Her family reported that she was sick and was dragged from her home. Her clothes were found torn, along with injury marks near her lower abdomen hinting towards rape, an all-too-common occurrence at the hands of the Indian state’s paramilitary in the region.

Similarly, on 27th March 2024, the Indian state claimed it had gunned down 6 Maoists near the Chipurbhatti forest area in Bijapur district where the villagers have argued that atleast one of the murdered persons was a villager and that the people were actually captured and not shot dead during exchange of fire.

Photos have surfaced of tied and bound persons timed prior to the alleged encounter, indicating that this too was a fake encounter of captured Maoists, with the Indian state’s paramilitary carrying out summary executions with raw impunity and in sheer mockery of the state’s law.

Since the coming of BJP government in the Chhattisgarh state assembly late last year and upon the run upto the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Indian state has turned Bastar into an open warzone. On April 7, 2024, a joint operation conducted by various wings of the paramilitary forces, targeting villages like Palaguda, Ittaguda, Jilorgada, Gommaguda, and Kanchal, near the Bijapur-Sukma border, American and Israel-manufactured rocket launchers and drones were used to drop more than 30 high-intensity explosives in these villages.

From the area in which the bombs have struck, to a radius of about 100-200 sq meters, there has been an intense amount of destruction with trees being completely uprooted and cattle slaughtered. The people in the area narrowly escaped the attacks and experienced loss of property. Drones have been spotted continuously over the skies and there is an atmosphere of fear in the area. This is also the harvest season for Mahua flowers.

The Adivasi peasantry sleeps under the Mahua trees to ensure the protection of the Mahua flowers during this season and regularly stay in the forest lands. The bombing have become a major hindrance to the harvesting of these flowers which is an essential part of their livelihood and Adivasi cultural practices.

Day-to-day lives and practices of Adivasi peasants have been turned into lives of fear and terror. The villagers organized peaceful sit-in protests against this aerial bombing and videos have surfaced showing the paramilitary personnel forcing them into police vehicles and dragging them away, threatening them imprisonment and death for carrying out peaceful protests. Leading Adivasi peasant activists like Surju Tekam were unceremoniously arrested under the draconian UAPA law under fabricated charges.

In such times, the Indian state makes no distinction between armed resistance or peaceful. According to Article 3 of the Geneva convention, those individuals who have been forced into non-combatant situations due to injury or ones who have laid down their arms, have to be treated with dignity. Further, state violence like torture, or murder without judicial proceedings is prohibited even against armed resistance.

Although India is a signatory to the convention, the Indian state has in no way followed these guidelines set by the convention. Furthermore, the Indian state is bound to differentiate between armed resistance forces and unarmed civilians in the region, yet, the Indian state continues to wage an indiscriminate war on its own people at the service of imperialists and big Indian corporates.

The victims of this assault for corporatisation includes a 6 month old child who was shot dead by the security forces on 1st January 2024. The genocidal war on the Adivasi peasants has also seen the use of aerial bombings via Israel-made drones over villages populated by civilians.
Forum Against Corporatization And Militarization (FACAM) is deeply concerned by the escalation of the Indian state’s war against people in Bastar and condemns the aerial bombings and fake encounters conducted in the region. FACAM urges for the immediate scrapping of the Surajkund Scheme which provides basis to all the militarization at the service of corporate interests in the resource-rich regions.
Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization (FACAM) demands:
1.⁠ ⁠Criminal proceedings and investigation in cases alleged to be "crossfire".
2.⁠ ⁠Independent inquiry into Chipurbhatti, Korcholi and Chote Betia encounters by democratic rights organizations committee headed by a retired Supreme Court Judge.
---
*All-India Students Association (AISA), All India Revolutionary Students Organization (AIRSO), All India Revolutionary Women's Organization (AIRWO), Bhim Army Student Federation (BASF), Bhagat Singh Ambedkar Students Organization (BASO), Bhagat Singh Chatra Ekta Manch (bsCEM), Collective, Common Teachers Forum (CTF), Democratic Students Union (DSU), Fraternity Movement, Nazariya Magazine, Progressive Lawyers Association (PLA), Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan (MAS), Trade Union Centre of India (TUCI), Vishwavidyalaya Chhatra Federation (VCF)

Comments

Defeat of martial law: Has the decisive moment for change come in South Korea?

By Steven Lee Late at night on December 3, soldiers stormed into South Korea’s National Assembly in armored vehicles and combat helicopters. Assembly staff desperately blocked their assault with fire extinguishers and barricades. South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol had just declared martial law to “ eliminate ‘anti-state’ forces .”

70,000 migrants, sold on Canadian dream, face uncertain future: Canada reinvents the xenophobic wheel

By Saurav Sarkar* Bikram Singh is running out of time on his post-study work visa in Canada. Singh is one of about 70,000 migrants who were sold on the Canadian dream of eventually making the country their home but now face an uncertain future with their work permits set to expire by December 2024. They came from places like India, China, and the Philippines, and sold their land and belongings in their home countries, took out loans, or made other enormous commitments to get themselves to Canada.

A groundbreaking non-violent approach: Maharishi’s invincible defense technology

By MajGen (R) Kulwant Singh, Col (R) SP Bakshi, Col (R) Jitendra Jung Karki, LtCol (R) Gunter Chassé & Dr David Leffler* In today’s turbulent world, achieving lasting peace and ensuring national security are more urgent than ever. Traditional defense methods focus on advanced weapons, military strategies, and tactics, but a groundbreaking approach offers a new non-violent and holistic solution: Maharishi’s Invincible Defense Technology (IDT).

Govt of India asked to work for release of 217 Indian fishermen detained in Pakistan since 2021

By A Representative Members of the fishing communities from Gujarat and Diu, Union Territory, held a press conference in Ahmedabad, urging the Union Government to take proactive measures to secure the release of Indian fishermen currently detained in Pakistan. Presently, 217 Indian fishermen, mostly from Gujarat and Diu, are held in Pakistan’s Malir Jail. Of these, 53 have been incarcerated since 2021 and 130 since 2022.

This book examines dialectics of complex caste and class relationship

By Harsh Thakor* In Caste and Revolution by N. Ravi, the author addresses questions raised by Dalit and Bahujan intellectuals inspired by revolutionary parties. These questions center on caste issues and seek to formulate a profound diagnosis to chart a path toward the annihilation of caste. The book explains how caste-based feudalism and comprador bureaucratic capitalism intertwine to perpetuate the caste system. It asserts that only the path of a New Democratic Revolution can eradicate caste. The book delves into the need for an equal position for oppressed castes in all layers of society to abolish caste discrimination and oppression. It offers an analytical diagnosis, a penetrating navigation, and a detailed account of the dialectics of caste and class across diverse spheres. Annihilation of Caste and the New Democratic Revolution A revolutionary party develops a perspective document on the caste question, integrating its understanding of caste and the program for caste annih...

34 Dalit families in IIT Kanpur without toilets in Open Defecation Free India

By Sandeep Pandey When Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur was set up in 1959, two villages were uprooted. The farmers were given meagre compensation for the standing crop. No compensation was given for the land to build this institute of national importance. Each family was promised a job but what was not told to them was that one would require specialised skills to get a job at IIT. Some members of these families were, of course, absorbed for menial work. Some washerfolk families were also invited from outside to live on campus to take care of the laundry needs of students, staff and faculty members. One of these men was cajoled by IIT authorities then to forego a regular employment at IIT and instead take up clothes washing work.

प्राकृतिक संसाधनों के दोहन करने की प्रतिस्पर्धा: बढ़ रही पर्यावरणीय और सामाजिक चुनौतियां

- राज कुमार सिन्हा प्राकृतिक संसाधनों और कॉमन्स, जैसे सामुदायिक भूमि, वन, चारागाह और जल निकाय स्थानीय समुदायों के लिए महत्वपूर्ण हैं जो इन संसाधनों पर निर्भर हैं और उनके सतत् उपयोग एवं संरक्षण के लिए पीढ़ियों से प्रयासरत हैं। कॉमन्स न केवल हमारी पारिस्थितिकी को संतुलित रखते हैं, बल्कि ग्रामीण आजीविका, जैव विविधता, और जलवायु अनुकूलन के लिए भी महत्वपूर्ण हैं। दुर्भाग्यवश, हर साल इन संसाधनों में 4% की कमी आ रही है, जिससे पर्यावरणीय और सामाजिक चुनौतियां बढ़ रही हैं। इन कॉमन्स के संरक्षण और पुनरुद्धार के लिए दीर्घकालीन योजना पर कार्य करने की आवश्यकता है। जिससे एक बेहतर, समान और टिकाऊ भविष्य का निर्माण हो सके।

Balod tech fest tests students’ interest in innovative ideas in the fields of science, engineering, start-ups

By A Representative A techno fest scheduled on December 20 and 21 in Balod district of Chhattisgarh will test the innovative ideas of school students in the fields of science, engineering and start-ups. For this two-day fest organised at Maheswari Bhawan of the district, a total of 824 models made by students were initially registered. Out of those, a selection committee chose 200 models from several schools spread over five blocks of Balod. These will be on display on these two days from 10am to 4.30pm. Out of many ideas, one of the most interesting models is a smart glove which can be used by children with impairments and disabilities. For those who cannot speak at all or have speech difficulty, they can ask for help from caregivers by pressing their fingers on the glove after wearing it. This will attract attention.

Local businessman subjected to physical assault, verbal abuse: Demand for accountability, justice

By Kirity Roy* On October 9, 2024, a disturbing incident of harassment and abuse took place in the Swarupnagar Block of North 24 Parganas district, involving a local businessman, Hasanur Gazi, who was subjected to physical assault, verbal abuse, and religious discrimination by a Border Security Force (BSF) constable. The incident, which occurred at the Hakimpur Checkpost, has raised serious concerns about the safety and dignity of citizens living in border areas, especially those belonging to religious minorities.

Search This Blog