Friday, December 28, 2007
Maoists vow to carry forward People’s March mission
Thursday December 27 2007 09:29 IST M.P.PrashanthKOZHIKODE: Maoists have vowed to carry forward the 'mission' of People's March editor P. Govindan Kutty, who is in judicial custody after he was picked up by the Ernakulam police. Govindan Kutty is on an hunger strike ever since he was arrested alleging that the police action is an infringement on the freedom of the press.In a post on December 23, the blogspot maoistmovementinindia. com says, "People's March will never die. It will continue and work against all oppressions." It gives a chilling warning: "Prisons will break, chains will break same as what happened in Dantewada, Jehanabad, Patna."Maoistsresistance, another pro-Maoists blog, demands immediate release of Govindan Kutty. "The so-called largest democracy in the world, with a gigantic army, para-military force and police, feels threatened by a monthly magazine with a limited circulation of few thousands." The Maoists are planning to raise the arrest as a human rights issue. The Revolutionary People's Front (RPF), the frontal organisation of the CPI (Maoist), will stage agitations demanding Govindan Kutty's release. Ajayan Mannur, RPF state secretary, says the Maoists have their presence in 12 districts in the state. "The RPF is the right hand of the CPI (Maoist), engaged in propagating the ideology of the party among the masses. It is the state unit of the Revolutionary Democratic Movement (RDF) led by G.N. Saibaba. We will continue to organise people in various agitations" he told this website's newspaper .He said the Maoist leader Malli Raja Reddy has come to the state for party work. Andhra Police had tried to kidnap him. It was spoiled after our intervention. We have sent fax messages to the Chief Minister and the Home Minister," Ajayan said. There are indications that the Maoists will throw up resistance if the Andhra Police tried to pick up their comrades from Kerala in future. "Andhra Police has worst track record in human rights violations. It is second only to the Assam Rifles in this regard," he said. The Maoists believe that the CPM is nurturing a strong hatred towards them as a fallout of the Nandigram issue.They say the CPM is settling scores using the arrest of Malli Raja Reddy as a cover. "The Kerala Government wants to nip the bud and stifle all voices of dissent."
Who are Dantewada's Prisoners? By Nandini Sundar
PREDICTABLY, the recent jailbreak at Dantewada in Chhattisgarh has prompted calls for greater security measures, and the district has been sealed off while police undertake massive combing operations. Someone should monitor whether those who are 'brought back' are actually those who escaped. Certainly, when such a large number can walk out along the main road in district headquarters, in broad daylight, and that too, in a 'sensitive' district with such a large concentration of paramilitary forces, the administration needs to engage in some serious introspection. And while the jailor has been arrested and showcause notices issued to other cops, the man who is really responsible for the mess, Chief Minister Raman Singh, remains unaffected.
The jailbreak is only the latest in a series of incidents that show the Chhattisgarh administration in a poor light. The government claims it is protecting people from Naxalites by housing them in Salwa Judum camps but it took only one Errabor incident to show that being forcibly corralled in 'base camps' from which attacks were mounted on surrounding villages, actually made people more vulnerable to Maoist counterattacks. It burned village after village as part of its Salwa Judum counterinsurgency campaign, but now its own forces can't go into those areas, because the affected people are solidly with the Maoists.
What needs to be asked, moreover, is how many of those who escaped had good reason to be in jail to begin with. Ever since Salwa Judum started in 2005, anyone not directly supporting the campaign is vulnerable to being branded a Naxalite, arrested, and even killed. Indeed, the most recent victim of such branding was the Congress MLA of Konta, Kawasi Lakhma. The district collector threatened to remove his security cover because he opposed Salwa Judum. In his case, Congress pressure got the Collector transferred, but most others have not been so lucky.
A few months before he was arrested, the General Secretary of the PUCL (People?s Union for Civil Liberties) Dr. Binayak Sen, told me about his meetings with prisoners in jail, part of his routine work as a civil liberties activist. Less than one percent, he estimated, had anything to do with the Naxalites, and yet they were all in jail on charges of being hardcore Naxalites or sympathisers. How ironic that Binayak now finds himself in the same circumstances in Raipur jail, arrested on the flimsiest of charges! One of the reasons advanced by government counsel for his alleged Naxalite connections is that he kept no medical equipment at home (never mind that he has been awarded by his alumni, the Vellore Medical college, and that he advised the state government on its Mitanin programme for health workers). Another 'irrefutable proof' according to the police is that he received letters from prisoners addressed as 'Dear Comrade Binayak'! Sure, he met the Naxalite leader, Narayan Sanyal, in jail, but always with the permission of the jail authorities and occasionally, even at their request. Despite several eminent people vouching for him and calling for his release, he has been refused even bail.
A recent investigation by the International Association of People's Lawyers (IAPL) revealed the farce that is the criminal justice system in Chhattisgarh today. On May 17th this year, one Kawasi Baman was arrested after an 'encounter' in Nayapara ward of Dantewada town, and displayed to the media as a dreaded Naxalite. Eyewitnesses said that he was part of a group of migrant workers from Basaguda, seeking work in Dantewada town. They had just finished their morning meal when they were attacked by the police. Two men were killed, four managed to run away and this poor youth was caught because he was too scared to move. Local children testified that after the shooting, the police took out a muzzle- loader and put it next to the dead bodies.
Even more absurd is the case of Dodi Nanda, who was 'lying drunk on the roadside near Jagargonda when a mine blast took place at Tarrem. He was transported by army helicopter and when he came to, he found himself in Dantewada jail!' The IAPL found from the records, however, that he had been charged under five separate and serious criminal cases, such as attacking police stations and killing policemen. Although these cases had been assigned to various lawyers in the Legal Aid Panel, and two were at advanced stages, no lawyer had ever met him.
Both these prisoners at least have families who came and looked for them, unlike 25-year-old Dabba Bommaiah from Bhopalpatnam, who had been in jail for six months when the Independent Citizens Initiative met him last year. A labourer on a lift irrigation project, he had guided some Border Roads men to the nearest police station. When asked to join the Salwa Judum, he refused, saying he had a family to support. This was evidently enough to have him arrested. He hadn?t seen his wife or children since. When asked why, he answered: 'They haven't ever seen even Dantewada. How will they come to Jagdalpur?'
One could go on with several stories - young girls who were picked up on their way to market; women who were cultivating their own fields in villages which happened to be suspected as Maoist strongholds, a sick woman who could not run away fast enough when the Salwa Judum came, and was caught, raped and dressed in a Naxalite uniform in order for the police to be able to present a prize catch.
Even in ordinary cases, the legal system does not cater to adivasis, who are unfamiliar with Hindi or the kind of documentary evidence that courts require. In Chhattisgarh alone, 2.5 lakh cases were registered against adivasis for minor forest offences. Across India, many thousands languish in jail on minor charges because they cannot find the money required for bail or get any legal help. Even when their families summon all their reserves and come up with the Rs. 10,000-20,000 that lawyers charge, they are often taken for a ride. So-called Naxalite prisoners face even more serious problems - they are not produced in court on security grounds, and are routinely denied bail. Even if they are finally acquitted, most of them have already spent years inside. Apart from overcrowding, local newspapers have reported deaths in Dantewada jail recently owing to bad food and lack of medical attention.
The rate of incarceration of members of a community is one of the surest indicators of their unequal status in society. The arrest of Muslims under POTA [Prevention of Terrorism Act] in Gujarat just after the 2002 pogrom added to the widespread insecurity they were already feeling. In the US, the criminal justice system disproportionately targets young black men, while in France, immigrants are the target of anti-poor policing. It would be interesting to get a caste wise break-up of the jail population of India.
None of this is by way of justifying the jailbreak, or suggesting that Naxalites should not be arrested and tried for the crimes they have committed. But the law, in order to command respect, demands that those who enforce it be held to the same standards. While that is, perhaps, too much to expect, the least the state government ought to realise is that its policy of indiscriminate arrests - like every other aspect of its counter-insurgency campaign - is self-defeating.
The jailbreak is only the latest in a series of incidents that show the Chhattisgarh administration in a poor light. The government claims it is protecting people from Naxalites by housing them in Salwa Judum camps but it took only one Errabor incident to show that being forcibly corralled in 'base camps' from which attacks were mounted on surrounding villages, actually made people more vulnerable to Maoist counterattacks. It burned village after village as part of its Salwa Judum counterinsurgency campaign, but now its own forces can't go into those areas, because the affected people are solidly with the Maoists.
What needs to be asked, moreover, is how many of those who escaped had good reason to be in jail to begin with. Ever since Salwa Judum started in 2005, anyone not directly supporting the campaign is vulnerable to being branded a Naxalite, arrested, and even killed. Indeed, the most recent victim of such branding was the Congress MLA of Konta, Kawasi Lakhma. The district collector threatened to remove his security cover because he opposed Salwa Judum. In his case, Congress pressure got the Collector transferred, but most others have not been so lucky.
A few months before he was arrested, the General Secretary of the PUCL (People?s Union for Civil Liberties) Dr. Binayak Sen, told me about his meetings with prisoners in jail, part of his routine work as a civil liberties activist. Less than one percent, he estimated, had anything to do with the Naxalites, and yet they were all in jail on charges of being hardcore Naxalites or sympathisers. How ironic that Binayak now finds himself in the same circumstances in Raipur jail, arrested on the flimsiest of charges! One of the reasons advanced by government counsel for his alleged Naxalite connections is that he kept no medical equipment at home (never mind that he has been awarded by his alumni, the Vellore Medical college, and that he advised the state government on its Mitanin programme for health workers). Another 'irrefutable proof' according to the police is that he received letters from prisoners addressed as 'Dear Comrade Binayak'! Sure, he met the Naxalite leader, Narayan Sanyal, in jail, but always with the permission of the jail authorities and occasionally, even at their request. Despite several eminent people vouching for him and calling for his release, he has been refused even bail.
A recent investigation by the International Association of People's Lawyers (IAPL) revealed the farce that is the criminal justice system in Chhattisgarh today. On May 17th this year, one Kawasi Baman was arrested after an 'encounter' in Nayapara ward of Dantewada town, and displayed to the media as a dreaded Naxalite. Eyewitnesses said that he was part of a group of migrant workers from Basaguda, seeking work in Dantewada town. They had just finished their morning meal when they were attacked by the police. Two men were killed, four managed to run away and this poor youth was caught because he was too scared to move. Local children testified that after the shooting, the police took out a muzzle- loader and put it next to the dead bodies.
Even more absurd is the case of Dodi Nanda, who was 'lying drunk on the roadside near Jagargonda when a mine blast took place at Tarrem. He was transported by army helicopter and when he came to, he found himself in Dantewada jail!' The IAPL found from the records, however, that he had been charged under five separate and serious criminal cases, such as attacking police stations and killing policemen. Although these cases had been assigned to various lawyers in the Legal Aid Panel, and two were at advanced stages, no lawyer had ever met him.
Both these prisoners at least have families who came and looked for them, unlike 25-year-old Dabba Bommaiah from Bhopalpatnam, who had been in jail for six months when the Independent Citizens Initiative met him last year. A labourer on a lift irrigation project, he had guided some Border Roads men to the nearest police station. When asked to join the Salwa Judum, he refused, saying he had a family to support. This was evidently enough to have him arrested. He hadn?t seen his wife or children since. When asked why, he answered: 'They haven't ever seen even Dantewada. How will they come to Jagdalpur?'
One could go on with several stories - young girls who were picked up on their way to market; women who were cultivating their own fields in villages which happened to be suspected as Maoist strongholds, a sick woman who could not run away fast enough when the Salwa Judum came, and was caught, raped and dressed in a Naxalite uniform in order for the police to be able to present a prize catch.
Even in ordinary cases, the legal system does not cater to adivasis, who are unfamiliar with Hindi or the kind of documentary evidence that courts require. In Chhattisgarh alone, 2.5 lakh cases were registered against adivasis for minor forest offences. Across India, many thousands languish in jail on minor charges because they cannot find the money required for bail or get any legal help. Even when their families summon all their reserves and come up with the Rs. 10,000-20,000 that lawyers charge, they are often taken for a ride. So-called Naxalite prisoners face even more serious problems - they are not produced in court on security grounds, and are routinely denied bail. Even if they are finally acquitted, most of them have already spent years inside. Apart from overcrowding, local newspapers have reported deaths in Dantewada jail recently owing to bad food and lack of medical attention.
The rate of incarceration of members of a community is one of the surest indicators of their unequal status in society. The arrest of Muslims under POTA [Prevention of Terrorism Act] in Gujarat just after the 2002 pogrom added to the widespread insecurity they were already feeling. In the US, the criminal justice system disproportionately targets young black men, while in France, immigrants are the target of anti-poor policing. It would be interesting to get a caste wise break-up of the jail population of India.
None of this is by way of justifying the jailbreak, or suggesting that Naxalites should not be arrested and tried for the crimes they have committed. But the law, in order to command respect, demands that those who enforce it be held to the same standards. While that is, perhaps, too much to expect, the least the state government ought to realise is that its policy of indiscriminate arrests - like every other aspect of its counter-insurgency campaign - is self-defeating.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Interview with GN Saibaba of the RDF India
India: A Catastrophe or a Break with Imperialism
India is at a turning point, says GN Saibaba, a representative of the Revolutionary Democratic Front. He stresses the deep poverty and terrible living conditions of ordinary Indians co-existing with the economical boom. Either India breaks with imperialism or sectarianism and Hindu right-wing nationalism will prevail, he warns. His is a message of hope, but also fearful warnings.
Poverty boom
The economy of India, when measured in USD exchange-rate terms, is the twelfth largest in the world, with a GDP of US $1.09 trillion (2007). It is the third largest in terms of purchasing power parity. India is the second fastest growing major economy in the world, with a GDP growth rate of 9.4% for the fiscal year 2006–2007.
- If these are indicators of growth, I’m afraid that these indicators could never speak about the real growth that is developing in India, says GN Saibaba, the deputy General Secretary of the Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF).
India’s huge population results in a per capita income of $4,182 at PPP and $964 at nominal (2007 estimate). The World Bank classifies India as a low-income economy. Co-existing with the economical growth is widespread poverty. The population of the vast South-Asian country is among the worlds’ poorest and most down-throdden. The UN Human development index ranks India as 126th.
An economy of impoverishment
- This poverty is a real indicator of how growth develops in India, says Saibaba. An even better indication is the fact that 150,000 farmers have committed suicide. Even in Sub-saharan Africa these kind of numbers don’t exist. These are forced suicides, not voluntary!
Saibaba sees the Western picture of India as a state of economical and technological progress as a fiction. - The growth rate is illusive! It’s mostly based on calculated and speculated capital, which is very fragile. One day the capital could be here and another day it will fly to another territory in the world. This growth rate is artificial and calculated.
Special Economical Death Zones
Currently the Indian government is designating and building more than 500 “Special Economical Zones” to stimulate further growth in the Indian export industry. The zones are put at the disposal of large multi-national companies and products will mainly be exported.
- These are fragile investments, one would never know if they would remain permanently. Any kind of turmoil could easily cause a shift, says Saibaba. Through the Revolutionary Democratic Front he’s participating in Visthapan Virodi Jan Vikas Andolan, which is an umbrella organization consisting of more than one hundred local mass movements all over India.
To build the new zones local peasants are being bought out off or expelled from their land. Violence is often applied to expel those who are determined to stick on to the soil, like in Nandigram, close to the capital Kolkata of West Bengal, where the official Communist Party (Marxist) are heading the regional government. 150 were massacred and 2000 wounded when militias hired by the “communist” government were rushed in to clear the peasants out.
Many intellectuals and others concerned about the social and sometimes deadly consequences of the “economical wonder” are also connected with the movement.
Still a feudal economy
Traditionally the maoist analysis applied by the inspired Indian naxalite rebels has been to say that the Indian economy is a feudal economy. Yet this image is contrasted by a sharp growth in the economical standards of the bourgeoisie and the upper middle class.
But Saibaba denies that there’s any development towards real capitalism in the country. - The capitalist entrepreneurs in India are dependent on imperialist capitalists, they are unable to take independent decisions. India is a traditional supplier of raw material. They export raw material cheaply and remain on the receiving end of the market for the finished goods, so in a double way you are helping the imperialist entrepreneurs.
The new economics also give little in terms of investment to the people. While money is tossed into building new universities and campuses, the beneficiaries are foreigners and the Indian diaspora, not the common man, in the view of Saibaba.
- They build some good educational institutions, but ordinary people don’t have the opportunity to go. And though there are developments of science and economy, it’s dependent on the Western powers. New campuses are being built financed by foreigners.
Several Sub-Saharan regions in India
- India is a very complex phenomenon says Saibaba. - There are several Nepals in India, there are several regions in India resembling Sub-Saharan conditions. In other words, India has multiple modes of production. So similarly you have a capitalist development, a feudal system, a slave system and a tribal systems. You have people still remaining in the hunting system, you have a feudalist system and also a capitalist system, dependent on monopoly capital from abroad.
Given these multiple modes of production, you can say that all modes of production from human history exist in India. The category called semi-feudal and semi-colonial have these multiple modes of economies existing together built within it. Another trait is subsistence economy, the majority produce just to survive.
A vicious trap
In present India 55% of the GDP is from the service sector, 19% of the GDP is from agriculture, 55% is employing only 0,5% of the work force. 19% of the GDP is giving employing 70% of the work force. Only 3% of the GDP is located in the manufactural sector.
- These numbers show clearly how the Indian economy is completely based on agriculture, says Saibaba. 55% of the GDP is from the service sector, but only sheltering 0,7%, while a vast majority is surviving on agriculture while their share of the GDP. This figure clearly shows how India is semi-colonial and semi-feudal and the weakness of the manufacturing sector is also clear from this picture.
- 77% of the Indian population live on 20 rupi a day (0,5 USD). The growth rate is only for the top ten percent and it doesn’t effect the vast majority of the people. If you add together all the rich people in India, you’ll get huge numbers, but they are just 13%. Numbers are huge because the population is huge.
- The vast majority of the indian population has no power, they have no purchasing power, if they had purchasing power, industry could grow. This is a vicious circle.
Change is possible
- The only way entrepreneurship could grow is if the people got purchasing power, says Saibaba.
- It’s possible, if the ruling elite would like to change, but they don’t have the will to do it. If agriculture is given importance, indigenous ways to develop agriculture is taken into consideration, land is distributed so that the population could move forward in agriculture, people would get purchasing power.
Those who depend on agriculture in today’s India are mainly landless, 70% of the land is in the hands of 23% of the people, only 13% of the land is in the hands of the 70% of the population occupied in the agricultural sector.
- Huge amounts of land is left uncultivated in India. If this would have been distributed among the people there would be a real development boom. This population is skilled workers, they could improve the productivity, if land is given to them, apart from the land in the hand of the big owners. Huge amounts of land is left uncultivated.
Rise of hindutva fascism
While the picture of an economical boom is being contrasted by roaring poverty, another feature of modern Indian society is politics being played out in an increasingly sectarian pattern of bigotry.
- No single party can form a government of their own, explains Saibaba. The all-India parties lost their importance. Different layers of maldevelopment in different regions has created different politics. The situation now is much worse than at the time of liberation from the British in 1947.
In the end of the 80s the movement of hindutva nationalism, a right-wing movement based on a hinduist identity began to gain momentum and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the party of the wider right-wing nationalist movement, held government from 1996-2004. The BJP government in the Indian regional state Gujarat was criticized widely for its failure to prevent widespread violence against the minority Muslim community in the year 2002. Amnesty International’s annual report on India in 2003 claimed the “Gujarat government did not actively fulfill its duty to provide appropriate relief and rehabilitation to the survivors”. It also claimed that “the same police force that was accused of colluding with the attackers was put in charge of the investigations into the massacres, undermining the process of delivery of justice to the victims.”
- Regionalism has grown together with hinduvatva fascism, because of the conflicting situation, Saibaba explains. - This is related to politics and economics. Politics because with 60 years of malgovernment, which has given a scope for the right-wing and regionalist forces to grow. Politics, because the revolutionary left is growing. The lumpenization of the economy is contributing to the growth of the right-wing in the urban cities, while the impoverishment of peasants is resulting in the growth of the left on the country side.
Together with the muslim minority
Together with the rise of hindutva nationalism, islamic movements are on the rise in India. The Revolutionary Democratic Front believes that this comes as a reaction the marginalization and insecurity muslims experience in modern India.
- They are pushed into a corner, says Saibaba. - Muslim fundamentalism is no doubt growing, but this islamization is because of severe acts by the majority. The revolutionary forces would like to win over the muslim population, while the hindu fundamentalists belong to the ruling classes.
Bigotry attacks on muslim minorities is common in many Indian states, while poverty remains high among ordinary muslims. - Small section of muslims are pushed towards fundamentalism, but security the main issue, Saibaba explains. - They could be attacked by hindutva forces anytime and are pushed into ghettos. Opportunities are not given to the muslims, because most of them are workers, most of them are hand skilled workers, poverty is very rampant.
The Revolutionary Democratic Front compares the rise of hindutva nationalism with the rise of islamist movements elsewhere. - The islamization of Pakistan would be similar to Hindutva in India, says Saibaba. - If I was in Pakistan, I wouldn’t understand the fundamentalists as I do in India. The fundamentalist forces in Pakistan are much more reactionary and tied to the state, while muslims in India are only fundamentalist because there is a threat to security.
Today the Indian revolutionaries are seeking cooperation with all kinds of muslim organisations because they believe the muslim groups have to be looked upon as minority groups without equal rights.
- The question would not be whether they are fundamentalists or not, they are the allies of the people. As a minority section they are an ally of the revolutionary forces. So the revolutionary forces are in a process of aligning themselves with the religious people. The question of fundamentalism in India is the question of the hindutva forces. This doesn’t mean that the rev forces ignore the fundamentalism of the muslims, the revolutionary forces take a different point than them. But to bring them out of fundamentalism you have to take the them out of the physical conditions that are making fundamentalism attractive to them. They should have their full religious rights.
Maoist surge
- The last two years you have seen in the central part the growth of the maoist movement, consolidated in CPI(M), it’s an indication of two things. First, the revolutionary forces have come together and formed a unified party and secondly, the popularity of the communist ideology among the masses
Indian government officials say that for the first time in history “the single biggest threat internal security is the Naxalites”. - This is an indicator of the phenomenal growth, a formidable challenge to the right-wing forces and imperialists, says Saibaba.
Saibaba does not see a contradiction between the different political and economical tendencies in the urban and rural areas.
- The strategy of the maoists is not only to capture the countryside, but to wage armed struggle to capture power finally at a country level. In fact those who have power in the vast rural areas ultimately will acquire power in Dehli. Neither BJP or Congress cannot win power based only on the urban centers, in terms of representation, only rural centers will matter. When the BJP comes to power it comes to power with a large number of regional parties, with the congress it’s the same, but they have also a rural base.
Sometimes the sectarian forces, like in Ghujarat and Utar Pradesh, these are the states where the revolutionary forces have not grown, are using muslim-hindu tensions to create a vote bank.
The last moghul of Congress
Historically the Indian Congress Party founded by Mahatma Gandhi led the anti-colonization movement. Today, according to the Indian revolutionaries, they are the resembling their former oppressors.
- It’s a traditional force, representing the feudal elements, says Saibaba. - But today there’s little difference left between congress and BJP. Though the BJP is more dependent on the trading class while congress is more dependent on the rural, feudal class, but in terms of the nature of both parties, there’s hardly any difference remaining. So congress congress could easily succumb to the BJP.
- It looks like their new leader, Rahul Gandhi, would be the last moghul of congress. The only difference is that the last moghul was an anti-imperialist who fought the british, while history repeats itself in a very sad way, in that this moghul is on the side on imperialism.
The official left is losing
The parliamentary left would be the biggest loser. The current government is dependent on the left. For the first time have the largest number of parliamentary seats in the history.
In the 2004 elections the official Indian left parties, the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxists) gained a historical high number of MPs, by many seen as a reaction to the neoliberal policies of the BJP 1999-2004 government.
- Since Congress took power, they’ve been the biggest supporters of the same policies. It was a shock of the peoplel that the Communist Party (Marxists) is supporting US imperialism, like implementing the Special Economic Zones in West Bengal, where they are in government, and also in central government. They vote against pension schemes, people’s livelihood, security, in support of the unhindered loot of the imperialists.
Because of this the revolutionaries in India believe the official, parliamentary left will lose ground. So it depends on the revolutionary forces, if they gain the ground lost by the parliamentary left. If they gain ground, it could be a revolutionary situation comparable to that of Nepal.
A dark or bright future
But the picutre isn’t only bright. - There’s a danger, if the rev forces don’t gain space, that the most reactionary right-wing forces would be able to control the situation for a longer period. The in-between forces have no space now. You have to choose a side, if the right-wing forces gain more space, then the chaos of civil war will be much more serious, if the revolutionary forces gain ground, it’d be paving a way for better developments
- I can’t confidently say that either side will gain grown, but there’s a chance for the revolutionary forces. Of course, ultimately, the rev forces, but now, I don’t know. With the class contradictions and the class struggle going on, either side could win, but ultimately the revolutionary forces.
Whatever way India turns, it’d have a large impact, the situation in India would have a great impact on the world situation.
Interview by Lars Akerhaug
Norway, December 2007
Immediate release of Govindan Kuuty demanded
Republican People’s Front RPF has come forward and demanded immediate release of Govindan Kutty Editor of People’s March Magazine.
In a press release issued by RPF Kerala state committee its secretary Ajayan has demanded immediate release of Govindan Kutty on Humanitarian grounds
In a press release issued by RPF Kerala state committee its secretary Ajayan has demanded immediate release of Govindan Kutty on Humanitarian grounds
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Govindan Kutty On Hunger Strike
People's March Editor com. Govindan kutty passed hunger strike seven day in Aluva jail..He is remanded for 14 days ...Thrikkakara police has been registered non bailable cases against him....
Interview with Mr. Govindan Kutty – Editor of Peoples March ( considered to be mouth peace of Communist Party of India ( Maoist)
Question- Morning Mr. Kutty Pl tell us something about Maoist movement in India ?
Goviundan Kutty- Maoist movement in India started from the day former Soviat Union became a revisionist country but the organized form of the movement was first visible during days of Naxalbari in year 1967.
Later the movement was crushed by the government but the movement has been able to revive itself in later years on basis of self critical reports and analysis within the genuine revolutionaries of India.
Now, the movement has come up very strongly against very and brutal repressions of the state .
The movement faced many ups and downs splits with in the ranks who were unable to sustain stress and strains of revolutionary life ,while reaching the present state.
Question – what is the present state of Maoist movement in India?
Answer – now the Maoist movement has spread to each and every nook and corner of India
Question – you say the movement has spread to every nook and corner of the country but we have impression that the movement has faced setbacks in states like Andhra Pstates Pradesh and other states Infact the movement has lost its base in the state of Andhra Pradesh, The state that showed path of Maoism to populations of other states.
What you have to say on this?
Answer- setbacks, victories, defeats, Ups and Downs will have to be faced by any revolutionary movement that is fighting against state. It is partly true that the enemies are rejoicing over the setbacks in Andhra Pradesh at the same time they also say they are feared of the movement due to failed attempt on the life of former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh recently .
People of Andhra Pradesh are still with the ideology and due to severe repression by the state.
It is not a static, the direction of the wind is likely to change as these elements have to face elections in coming year of 2009.
Question- There is a perception that Maoists are against developmental activities what you have to say on this?
Answer- if we were against development people wont support us. In year 2004 elections Ex Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandra Babu Naidu gave a slogan of development V/s Naxalism and he was dethroned by the people.
To be frank we are not against the development without development the country cannot progress but the question is development for whom?
MNC’s TNC’S , or to a handful of traitors who mortgage our country for a song or the majority of common people.
Question – Tell me, how old are you and how are you contributing to the movement ?
Answer- I am 60 years of age and wherever there is injustice I fight against it and stand against it you should also doi the same.
Questions- why the movement believes in armed struggle?
Answer- no one in the movement is fond of armed struggle. It is the situation created by repressive states that has forced the movement to become an armed movement that too a defensive armed movement to defend people against the armed onslaught of the state.
Question- today we learn from media that Nandigram is burning and Maoists are stated to be responsible for the conditions at Nandigram what you have to say on this?
Answer- It has become a fashion and a common trend to criticize Maoists and brand each and every struggle wagged by people as a Maoist initiated activity. Is it that they say that Maoists should keep away from this peoples struggle. How can the Maoists keep quiet when people are waging life & death struggles?
Question – Then tell me, Medha Patkar a known peoples worker is not being allowed to go to Nandigram and work over there? why she was bashed by the CPM cadres?
Answer- there are many reasons behind her bashing by the CPM men in Nandigram. May be a self managed act where ever there is peoples struggle she goes there and pacifies the people to not to go beyond a certain limit.
A tradition guided and inherited as per the guidance of NGO’s .
In WSF at Mumbai the very same people (CPM men) took her on their shoulders and gave her a big reception and publicity.
I saw her photos in news papers with personalities like film maker Aparna Sen and Mahasweta Devi. I feel she can be a better actress than late Smita Patil or her contemporaries who have won many awards for superb acting.
The whole world knew about Narmada Bachao Andolan it started with 80 meters then went to 85 meters then went to 90 meters and now has reached to 121 meters with Medha’s blessings.
I am sure in another ten years the dam will reach its full height of 145 meters with Medha’s blessings.
Her plan is to take Nandigram, the NBA way..
Wherever there is trouble for the ruling classes be it Nandigram or anywhere in India Medha will be called (Invited), Basshed and publicized to pacify the sentiments of people and subdue the ongoing genuine struggles being wagged by people..
Question- what are the future expected trends and programs of the movement?
Answer- the movement will advance according to the wishes and requirements of people.
If the repression and exploitation increases the movement will also be enhanced
Question- Morning Mr. Kutty Pl tell us something about Maoist movement in India ?
Goviundan Kutty- Maoist movement in India started from the day former Soviat Union became a revisionist country but the organized form of the movement was first visible during days of Naxalbari in year 1967.
Later the movement was crushed by the government but the movement has been able to revive itself in later years on basis of self critical reports and analysis within the genuine revolutionaries of India.
Now, the movement has come up very strongly against very and brutal repressions of the state .
The movement faced many ups and downs splits with in the ranks who were unable to sustain stress and strains of revolutionary life ,while reaching the present state.
Question – what is the present state of Maoist movement in India?
Answer – now the Maoist movement has spread to each and every nook and corner of India
Question – you say the movement has spread to every nook and corner of the country but we have impression that the movement has faced setbacks in states like Andhra Pstates Pradesh and other states Infact the movement has lost its base in the state of Andhra Pradesh, The state that showed path of Maoism to populations of other states.
What you have to say on this?
Answer- setbacks, victories, defeats, Ups and Downs will have to be faced by any revolutionary movement that is fighting against state. It is partly true that the enemies are rejoicing over the setbacks in Andhra Pradesh at the same time they also say they are feared of the movement due to failed attempt on the life of former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh recently .
People of Andhra Pradesh are still with the ideology and due to severe repression by the state.
It is not a static, the direction of the wind is likely to change as these elements have to face elections in coming year of 2009.
Question- There is a perception that Maoists are against developmental activities what you have to say on this?
Answer- if we were against development people wont support us. In year 2004 elections Ex Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandra Babu Naidu gave a slogan of development V/s Naxalism and he was dethroned by the people.
To be frank we are not against the development without development the country cannot progress but the question is development for whom?
MNC’s TNC’S , or to a handful of traitors who mortgage our country for a song or the majority of common people.
Question – Tell me, how old are you and how are you contributing to the movement ?
Answer- I am 60 years of age and wherever there is injustice I fight against it and stand against it you should also doi the same.
Questions- why the movement believes in armed struggle?
Answer- no one in the movement is fond of armed struggle. It is the situation created by repressive states that has forced the movement to become an armed movement that too a defensive armed movement to defend people against the armed onslaught of the state.
Question- today we learn from media that Nandigram is burning and Maoists are stated to be responsible for the conditions at Nandigram what you have to say on this?
Answer- It has become a fashion and a common trend to criticize Maoists and brand each and every struggle wagged by people as a Maoist initiated activity. Is it that they say that Maoists should keep away from this peoples struggle. How can the Maoists keep quiet when people are waging life & death struggles?
Question – Then tell me, Medha Patkar a known peoples worker is not being allowed to go to Nandigram and work over there? why she was bashed by the CPM cadres?
Answer- there are many reasons behind her bashing by the CPM men in Nandigram. May be a self managed act where ever there is peoples struggle she goes there and pacifies the people to not to go beyond a certain limit.
A tradition guided and inherited as per the guidance of NGO’s .
In WSF at Mumbai the very same people (CPM men) took her on their shoulders and gave her a big reception and publicity.
I saw her photos in news papers with personalities like film maker Aparna Sen and Mahasweta Devi. I feel she can be a better actress than late Smita Patil or her contemporaries who have won many awards for superb acting.
The whole world knew about Narmada Bachao Andolan it started with 80 meters then went to 85 meters then went to 90 meters and now has reached to 121 meters with Medha’s blessings.
I am sure in another ten years the dam will reach its full height of 145 meters with Medha’s blessings.
Her plan is to take Nandigram, the NBA way..
Wherever there is trouble for the ruling classes be it Nandigram or anywhere in India Medha will be called (Invited), Basshed and publicized to pacify the sentiments of people and subdue the ongoing genuine struggles being wagged by people..
Question- what are the future expected trends and programs of the movement?
Answer- the movement will advance according to the wishes and requirements of people.
If the repression and exploitation increases the movement will also be enhanced
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Communist Party of India condemns State-sponsored Barbarities on Adivasis in Asom
Press Statement 12-12-07
Condemn State-sponsored Barbarities on Adivasis in Asom!
Support the Democratic Demands of Adivasis!
All sensible democratic people are terribly shocked and horrified by the chilling scenes of brutalities let loose on the peaceful rally on 24th November 2007 of many thousand Adivasis organized by All Adivasi Students' Association of Assam (AASAA) to press their very just demand for the Scheduled Tribes Status in Guwahati. The gangster brigade supported by the Congress and its student wing, NUSI lynched more than 12 Adivasis quite openly. Hundreds were savagely tortured and left writhing in terrible pain on the roads in pools of blood. A number of Adivasis also went missing. The infernal scenario of Guwahati once again brings to the fore the perpetually brutalized existence of the Adivasis in India. The CPI (Maoist) expresses its all condemnation and hatred for the ghastly barbarities unleashed on the Adivasis and extends all support to their just demand. It is no secret that the so-called civilized and privileged sections are guilty of such heinous crimes particularly committed on women.
Oblivious are we not to the fact that Guwahati is one of the well-fortified cities India. And the open AASA rally was declared well in advance. It is also a cruel reality that on 24th November the state's police forces made their presence in large numbers during the rally. Guwahati witnessed premeditated gangsterism with the open complicity of the police forces. TV footages and media reports made it crystal clear that the Tarun Gogoi government of the Congress Party had directly played the criminal role of unleashing all such acts of violence on the Adivasis. The positions of the governments at the Centre and Asom converge in regard to refusing scheduled tribe status to the vast numbers of Adivasi people of Asom.
In the aftermath of the First War of Independence in 1857 when repression by the colonial rulers reached its peak lakhs of Adivasis form Chhotonagpur plateau were transported left for the Dooars, Tripura and in hundreds of tea gardens of Asom. It was the beginning of criminal exploitation of the Adivasis basically in tea gardens. It was also the end of the freedom of those people nestled in the forested lands for generations before the British rule. Later in the so called 60 years independence lives of the tea garden workers have not changed, loot, plunder, starvation deaths and all types of oppression including the TU's vandalism is rampant.
On 24th November the deprived Adivasis rallied under the AASAA with the legitimate demand of six backward communities of Asom namely the Adivasis, Koch-Rajbanshis, Tai-Ahoms, Morans, Mataks and Chutias to be included in the list of Scheduled Tribes. The irony is that the Adivasis including Santhals are recognized as Scheduled Tribes by the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 as amended by Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes (Modification) Order 1950, the North-Eastern Areas (Re-organisation) Act, 1971 and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Act, 1976. It is the same old story that Mr. Tarun Gogoi as his party leader promised the ST status before electoral victory and conveniently retraced his step as did other people in power.
No condemnation is stinging enough for the animalistic actions of the pack of goons on that day, who had not only rained lathis, iron rods and all weapons with the clear protection and support of the police. They gang raped many women rallyists and stripped naked a young girl, a Madhyamik candidate. Humiliating women of the Dalits and Adivasis by parading them naked has long been the favoured "penalty" and signature of class and caste domination, particularly in rural India. Now this dominant section in the city of Guwahati tore apart the veneer of 'civility' by tearing of the last piece of cloth young girl, photographing her naked amidst wild halloo and devilish cheers, to the glare of prurient onlookers. Thus upper casteist ideology, the culture of the ruling classes, violence and targeting women in particular showed off the ugliest appearance in Asom.
The Chief Minister of Asom has shed crocodile's tears over the incident and announced a CBI enquiry, a cruel eyewash. The CPM supported UPA government's state home minister Mr. Shree Prakash Jaiswal has argued that as the Registrar General is not in agreement so those Adivasis will not be accorded tribal status. The supremo of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, a constituent of the UPA, a double dealer and killer, has gone further. He not only slurred over but also played down the barbarities on that day saying, "Nothing so serious has occurred in Assam. The media has exaggerated everything."
The CPM MP Rupchand Murmu-led delegation to Guwahati on 27 November after the violent attack, gang-rape, etc. pointed in the fashion of anti-reservation forces the accusing finger to the "unruly youths" of the rallyists triggering violence. The so-called Left-delegation virtually justified the acts of gruesome attacks propping up such hideous arguments : "….the local residents, enraged by vandalism, retaliated and attacked the Adivasis." Such well-kneed opportunists entrenched in the politics of preserving and expanding the vote bank also goes to their craftiest best to pass themselves as genuinely bereaved for the brutalized Adivasis. All they have betrayed the interests of the Adivasis and are definitely anti-reservationists, a proven fact of Indian political history.
Adivasis are perennially deprived and distressed in India. The fulfillment of demand of the struggling Adivasis in Asom for Adivasi status is not obviously a solution to their myriad problems of monumental dimension – economic, political, cultural, linguistic, etc. but the struggle for the acceptance of those Adivasis, as STs is a just demand to snatch, in a small way, a position, some facilities, etc.
The CPI (Maoist) stands by the struggling Adivasis of Asom, expresses deep anger against the goons who had perpetrated all violent attacks on the Adivasis on 24th November 2007 in Asom, sends its condolence to the families of the murdered and expresses deep sympathy for the grievously injured and the raped Adivasis.
Azad
12-12-07 Spokes Person
CPI (Maoist)
Central Committee
Press Statement 12-12-07
Condemn State-sponsored Barbarities on Adivasis in Asom!
Support the Democratic Demands of Adivasis!
All sensible democratic people are terribly shocked and horrified by the chilling scenes of brutalities let loose on the peaceful rally on 24th November 2007 of many thousand Adivasis organized by All Adivasi Students' Association of Assam (AASAA) to press their very just demand for the Scheduled Tribes Status in Guwahati. The gangster brigade supported by the Congress and its student wing, NUSI lynched more than 12 Adivasis quite openly. Hundreds were savagely tortured and left writhing in terrible pain on the roads in pools of blood. A number of Adivasis also went missing. The infernal scenario of Guwahati once again brings to the fore the perpetually brutalized existence of the Adivasis in India. The CPI (Maoist) expresses its all condemnation and hatred for the ghastly barbarities unleashed on the Adivasis and extends all support to their just demand. It is no secret that the so-called civilized and privileged sections are guilty of such heinous crimes particularly committed on women.
Oblivious are we not to the fact that Guwahati is one of the well-fortified cities India. And the open AASA rally was declared well in advance. It is also a cruel reality that on 24th November the state's police forces made their presence in large numbers during the rally. Guwahati witnessed premeditated gangsterism with the open complicity of the police forces. TV footages and media reports made it crystal clear that the Tarun Gogoi government of the Congress Party had directly played the criminal role of unleashing all such acts of violence on the Adivasis. The positions of the governments at the Centre and Asom converge in regard to refusing scheduled tribe status to the vast numbers of Adivasi people of Asom.
In the aftermath of the First War of Independence in 1857 when repression by the colonial rulers reached its peak lakhs of Adivasis form Chhotonagpur plateau were transported left for the Dooars, Tripura and in hundreds of tea gardens of Asom. It was the beginning of criminal exploitation of the Adivasis basically in tea gardens. It was also the end of the freedom of those people nestled in the forested lands for generations before the British rule. Later in the so called 60 years independence lives of the tea garden workers have not changed, loot, plunder, starvation deaths and all types of oppression including the TU's vandalism is rampant.
On 24th November the deprived Adivasis rallied under the AASAA with the legitimate demand of six backward communities of Asom namely the Adivasis, Koch-Rajbanshis, Tai-Ahoms, Morans, Mataks and Chutias to be included in the list of Scheduled Tribes. The irony is that the Adivasis including Santhals are recognized as Scheduled Tribes by the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 as amended by Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes (Modification) Order 1950, the North-Eastern Areas (Re-organisation) Act, 1971 and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Act, 1976. It is the same old story that Mr. Tarun Gogoi as his party leader promised the ST status before electoral victory and conveniently retraced his step as did other people in power.
No condemnation is stinging enough for the animalistic actions of the pack of goons on that day, who had not only rained lathis, iron rods and all weapons with the clear protection and support of the police. They gang raped many women rallyists and stripped naked a young girl, a Madhyamik candidate. Humiliating women of the Dalits and Adivasis by parading them naked has long been the favoured "penalty" and signature of class and caste domination, particularly in rural India. Now this dominant section in the city of Guwahati tore apart the veneer of 'civility' by tearing of the last piece of cloth young girl, photographing her naked amidst wild halloo and devilish cheers, to the glare of prurient onlookers. Thus upper casteist ideology, the culture of the ruling classes, violence and targeting women in particular showed off the ugliest appearance in Asom.
The Chief Minister of Asom has shed crocodile's tears over the incident and announced a CBI enquiry, a cruel eyewash. The CPM supported UPA government's state home minister Mr. Shree Prakash Jaiswal has argued that as the Registrar General is not in agreement so those Adivasis will not be accorded tribal status. The supremo of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, a constituent of the UPA, a double dealer and killer, has gone further. He not only slurred over but also played down the barbarities on that day saying, "Nothing so serious has occurred in Assam. The media has exaggerated everything."
The CPM MP Rupchand Murmu-led delegation to Guwahati on 27 November after the violent attack, gang-rape, etc. pointed in the fashion of anti-reservation forces the accusing finger to the "unruly youths" of the rallyists triggering violence. The so-called Left-delegation virtually justified the acts of gruesome attacks propping up such hideous arguments : "….the local residents, enraged by vandalism, retaliated and attacked the Adivasis." Such well-kneed opportunists entrenched in the politics of preserving and expanding the vote bank also goes to their craftiest best to pass themselves as genuinely bereaved for the brutalized Adivasis. All they have betrayed the interests of the Adivasis and are definitely anti-reservationists, a proven fact of Indian political history.
Adivasis are perennially deprived and distressed in India. The fulfillment of demand of the struggling Adivasis in Asom for Adivasi status is not obviously a solution to their myriad problems of monumental dimension – economic, political, cultural, linguistic, etc. but the struggle for the acceptance of those Adivasis, as STs is a just demand to snatch, in a small way, a position, some facilities, etc.
The CPI (Maoist) stands by the struggling Adivasis of Asom, expresses deep anger against the goons who had perpetrated all violent attacks on the Adivasis on 24th November 2007 in Asom, sends its condolence to the families of the murdered and expresses deep sympathy for the grievously injured and the raped Adivasis.
Azad
12-12-07 Spokes Person
CPI (Maoist)
Central Committee
Bhutan: Bhutan jails 30 'Maoists'
Bhutan has sent over two dozen people of Nepali origin to prison on the allegation that they were Maoists planning to launch an armed insurgency movement like in Nepal, a report said.Thirty people, said to be supporters of the Communist party of Bhutan-Marxist-Leninist-Maoist, received a nine-year sentence each, Bhutan's official daily Kuensel reported Saturday.Two of the 30 arrested are high school students. The group is alleged to have stayed in the refugee camps in eastern Nepal, where over 100,000 Bhutanese of Nepali origin have been languishing for 17 years after being evicted by the Bhutan government, and been trained in Maoist revolutionary philosophy there.With Bhutan facing an election, the government has begun a fresh crackdown on people of Nepali origin, suspecting them of being a threat to national security.The government media says Maoists have been holding frequent secret meetings in Bhutan to trigger an anti-monarchy movement there, and have been harassing residents for food and money.Kuensel said two women from the refugee camps in Nepal went to a village in India's Jalpaiguri town, where they gave training to over a dozen people.Bhutan's security agencies are alleging that the exiled Bhutan Communist Party has links with Nepal's Maoist guerrillas, who fought a decade-old war against monarchy before declaring a truce last year. It has been trying to start an armed insurrection in Bhutan again, security agencies say.The report blames an organisation, Bhutan Tiger Force, for an explosion in the capital Thimpu, alleging the BTF is close to the Maoists.The state media said that the police have confiscated Maoist literature and pamphlets from the arrested people.However, the evicted refugees who have been living in seven closed camps in eastern Nepal deny the allegations, calling it a ploy to block their repatriation.'These are baseless allegations intended to prevent us from returning home,' Bhutanese refugee leader Balaram Poudel said.Poudel and other senior refugee leaders have been trying in the past to stage 'Long Marches' back to Bhutan, but were thwarted by the Indian police guarding the strip of Indian land they have to cross to enter Bhutan.Over 108,000 refugees have been living in Nepal's tea garden districts of Jhapa and Morang for 17 years, hoping they would be able to return home one day.However, hopes started fading after several rounds of repatriation talks between Nepal and Bhutan failed.This year, the US offered to resettle the refugees in American cities and villages and the first resettlement is expected in January.Refugees like Poudel, who want to return to Bhutan, fear once third country resettlement starts, the lessening numbers of refugees in Nepal would ease the pressure on Bhutan to take the remaining numbers back.They also fear that if Bhutan thinks it can get away with the evictions, it will force more ethnic Nepalese to leave the kingdom.
Chhatisgarh cops still missing
Raipur, Dec. 21: Maoists kidnapped 12 policemen in Chhattisgarh last evening but officers don't know if they have been killed — because search teams haven't been able to cover the 15km to the spot till tonight.
A regional TV channel, however, aired footage of the bodies of 12 policemen and claimed it was reporting from the scene of the ambush in Maoist stronghold Dantewada.
Although senior officers wouldn't confirm the deaths, PTI quoted an unnamed Dantewada police source as saying: "All the 12… are killed and their 11 self-loading rifles and one AK-47 weapon have been looted by the rebels."
The police struggled to explain why their teams had failed to reach the spot after setting out from the Golapalli and Kisteram camps this morning when TV crew were apparently there long ago. Besides, of the 33 policemen ambushed, 21 made it to the Golapalli camp, negotiating the same terrain.
"The difficult terrain is causing problems. Besides, the ambushes laid by the rebels at various places makes our teams move with caution," Bastar inspector-general of police R.K. Vij said.
He suggested the TV crew may have reached the spot from Bhadrachalam or Khammam in Andhra Pradesh.
Dantewada is the district where about 100 Maoists broke out of jail on Monday, and where most of the rebels' central leaders are believed to be staying.
The 5pm ambush took place near Tarlaguda, about 500km south of state capital Raipur, while the jawans were returning to Golapalli from Kisteram. Of the missing jawans, eight are from the Special Armed Force and four from the District Force.
An officer said it was more likely the hostages had been killed "since there were no officers among them" who might have enabled the rebels to negotiate for a prisoner trade-off.
"The search parties are near the spot," Vij said, adding that the combing would resume tomorrow. Once the teams reached the site, he said, he would be in a position to speak officially about the casualty.
Usually, villagers inform the police if they discover any bodies but even this network seems to have collapsed, a source said.
A regional TV channel, however, aired footage of the bodies of 12 policemen and claimed it was reporting from the scene of the ambush in Maoist stronghold Dantewada.
Although senior officers wouldn't confirm the deaths, PTI quoted an unnamed Dantewada police source as saying: "All the 12… are killed and their 11 self-loading rifles and one AK-47 weapon have been looted by the rebels."
The police struggled to explain why their teams had failed to reach the spot after setting out from the Golapalli and Kisteram camps this morning when TV crew were apparently there long ago. Besides, of the 33 policemen ambushed, 21 made it to the Golapalli camp, negotiating the same terrain.
"The difficult terrain is causing problems. Besides, the ambushes laid by the rebels at various places makes our teams move with caution," Bastar inspector-general of police R.K. Vij said.
He suggested the TV crew may have reached the spot from Bhadrachalam or Khammam in Andhra Pradesh.
Dantewada is the district where about 100 Maoists broke out of jail on Monday, and where most of the rebels' central leaders are believed to be staying.
The 5pm ambush took place near Tarlaguda, about 500km south of state capital Raipur, while the jawans were returning to Golapalli from Kisteram. Of the missing jawans, eight are from the Special Armed Force and four from the District Force.
An officer said it was more likely the hostages had been killed "since there were no officers among them" who might have enabled the rebels to negotiate for a prisoner trade-off.
"The search parties are near the spot," Vij said, adding that the combing would resume tomorrow. Once the teams reached the site, he said, he would be in a position to speak officially about the casualty.
Usually, villagers inform the police if they discover any bodies but even this network seems to have collapsed, a source said.
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