NAXAL/ MAOISTS- 2010 - Indian Social Institute

produced six of the “missing” tribals, SC had ordered a Delhi judge on Monday to record their statements.
On Tuesday, a bench of justices B Sudershan Reddy and SS Nijjar directed the SC registry to give copies
of the statements to the tribals’ counsel Colin Gonsalves and the central and the state governments.
Gonsalves said the statements confirmed the massacre but did not apportion responsibility. During the
hearing, attorney general Goolam E Vahanvati referred to home minister P Chidambaram’s statement
that the government was ready to talk to Maoists, provided they abjured violence. “And the answer we
have got yesterday [Monday] from Bengal,” Vahanvati regretted, referring to the killing of securitymen in
West Midnapore. When lawyer Prashant Bhushan pointed out human rights violations by state agencies
in their fight against Maoists in Chhattisgarh, solicitor general Gopal Subramanium intervened to say
“nobody wanted to go [to fight Maoists] with a death band on the forehead. We do not want to perpetuate
a situation like a civil war”. The judges pacified the solicitors, saying, “We are not on anything like war, but
for solving the problem (sic).” Subramanium continued: “The fight against naxals is not based on any
political line and the Centre and the Chhattisgarh government are equally concerned about human rights.”
To this, the judges said though the court did not go by media reports, some reports were “really
disturbing”. (DNA 17/2/10)
With locals on their side, Maoists now striking at will (12)
JHARGRAM/SILDA: Five attacks on security forces in six months. Thirty-two jawans killed, scores
injured, arms looted, police patrols cowed. On the flip side, three crackdowns on Maoist dens. Just three
suspected guerrillas killed, 190 arrested — 23 of them released to secure the freedom of abducted
Sankrail OC Atindranath Dutta. It’s clear how the scales are tipped in the tussle between Maoists and
security forces in the tribal belt of Jangalmahal. The side that has the locals’ support has the edge. The
Maoists started winning one battle after another after November 2008, when the People’s Committee
against Police Atrocities (PCPA) was formed. In January 2009, they started a police boycott in Lalgarh.
With this began a systematic elimination of police informers. When the killing spree began, there were
just 36 policemen in Lalgarh to police 300,000 people in 300 villages. It was the local information network
that helped police in this impossible task. The guerrillas started targeting this system. Now, police stations
are under lock-and-key and policemen don’t dare to venture out after dark even if there is a murder. The
killings created a fear psychosis among the villagers, who retreated into a shell, refusing to share
information with police. Occasional torture of villagers by police also turned people away from the
lawkeepers. This strategy helped Maoists create a “liberated zone”, which gradually spread beyond West
Midnapore, to Purulia and Bankura. The guerrillas also wooed villagers by digging wells, building roads
and setting up health centres in this underdeveloped region. This helped them build a strong information
system of their own that the forces do not have at the moment. The forces take a share of the blame, as
well. After nine months in the region, they are still to come to grips with the terrain. They are not aware of
the village paths that crisscross jungles. Till the first week of February, they didn’t even venture into the
jungles, say sources, sticking to the roads for their 10 am to 3 pm patrols. In the past two weeks, they
have started going into forests. A CRPF jawan said the situation is getting worse. “We marched into Silda
last night around 8.30 pm. Since then till this afternoon we couldn’t even get water to drink. This is how
we have been working every day,” he said. But there are other equally worrisome questions that remain
unanswered. Why were most of the jawans without arms? Why were the men and women who lurked in
the area for more than an hour not challenged? Some sources claim that Kishenji himself had been
keeping watch on the Silda camp for two months. According to a CID official, it is high time the forces
went for an “intelligence-backed guerrilla operation”. “You can beat guerrillas by fighting like a guerrilla.
It’s an ideal situation for Cobra operation under the direct command and control of CRPF.” (Times of India
17/2/10)
Karnataka Naxal leader killed in police encounter (12)
Karkala (Karnataka), March 1 : The Anti Naxal Force (ANF) gunned down a wanted Naxal leader Vasant
Goudlu in an encounter near Muniyal in Karnataka's Udupi district on Monday evening. The ANF also
believes that another wanted Naxal leader Vikram Goudlu and Vasant's sister Sundari managed to flee
from the sight. On a tip-off police surrounded three Naxals in Maroli Jaddu forest area in Karkala taluk of
the district. An ANF personnel was also injured in the encounter. Police recovered one self-loading rifle
(SLR), three magazines and a handbag from the sight. The ANF and Udupi Police have launched a joint
search operation in the forest area to capture the absconding Naxals. Vasant, a Malekudiya tribal hailed
from Kutlur village in the Kuduremukh National Park area. The 30-year-old, who was an active member of
the Karnataka Vimochana Ranga in 1990s, later went underground and became active in the Naxal
movement. He was a staunch follower of the Maoist ideologue Saket Rajan and a member of the Maoist's
Karavali Area Committee. Vasant's name figured in the 2003 Idu encounter and also in the bomb attack