A year on, Dantewada can’t forget Maoist attack

The Statesman

Sujeet Kumar
DANTEWADA (Chhattisgarh), 5 APRIL: The tribal-dominated jungle area where Maoists carried out the deadliest-ever attack on security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district and butchered 76 jawans exactly a year ago is still burning.
Chief minister Mr Raman Singh arrived in the area on Saturday, along with Governor Mr Shekhar Dutt, state’s home minister Mr Nankiram Kanwar and director-general of police Mr Vishwaranjan to cool frayed tempers of the residents who have alleged that policemen had burnt down hundreds of huts, killed a few people and raped women in a rampage that went on for six days, from 11 April to 16 April.
After the killings of 75 jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and one from the state police on 6 April, 2010 in a jungle near Tarmetla village, some 500 km south of capital Raipur, the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) has emerged stronger than ever before in Chhattisgarh’s 40,000 sq km Bastar region that includes Dantewada.
Indian authorities, too, have deployed more forces in Bastar’s war zone after losing 76 men in a single attack. In the clash between forces and rebels the worst sufferer is the local tribal population who are mired in poverty for decades.
“If you want to know to what extent we are suffering, just visit any jungle area in Dantewada district, there is more than 90 per cent chance you will lose your leg walking on a forested road as all the roads in jungles have been littered with mines, even you risk your life while using the hand pump too,’’ said a 22-year-old youth Mr Moriam, of Injeram area in Dantewada district close to the Andhra Pradesh border. As for him, he had lost his right hand nearly two years back in a blast when he tried to operate a hand pump in his village.
The explosive that went off was put allegedly by Maoists at a hand pump to target a small squad of policemen’s search squad who was expected to use the hand pump for drinking water in the scorching summer month of May.
“We are living under extreme terror-like atmosphere, I can’t spell out the suffering we are going through for years, nobody has feelings and time for the pain and trauma we have been put under in the past one year. The war in jungles between Dadas (Maoists) and police has worsened and so have our sufferings,’’ Mr Sori Hunga, a 50-year-old tribal of village Kasoli, told The Statesman.
He stated police are killing people in the name of fighting Dadas and supporting them and Dadas too target us for spying for local police and being in touch with Judum (Salwa Judum) men and the worst thing is that the war is escalating everyday and so our agony, I don’t see our sufferings are going to end in a year or two, probably it will end when the innocent tribals of Bastar land will be wiped out, both by Dadas and police.’’
A recently published 324-page book ~ Neo-Naxal Challenge ~ Issues and Options ~ written by Chhattisgarh’s additional director-general of police Mr Giridhari Nayak ~ gave some details about civilian casualties and injuries in war zone by mines.
“Mines are a nuisance and hidden killers. They have killed and maimed many innocent civilians. They are indiscriminate weapons harming combatants and civilians alike,’’ reads the book of the 1983 batch IPS officer.
It adds, “anti-personnel mines pose the greatest long-term risk to humans and animals since they are typically designed to be triggered by any movement or pressure of only a few kilograms. Anti-personnel mines are littered by Naxals on the main road, footpaths and near water pumps.’’ Mr Manish Kunjam, who is based at Bastar and president of the All India Adivasi Mahasabha, remarked, “the sufferings of over a million tribal people residing in the extreme interiors of the Bastar region are beyond imagination due to the escalating war between Maoists and police, their (civilians) misery is enormous and is compounding day by day.’’
He added, “since 6 April, 2010 killings of forces near Tarmetla, the policemen have gone on an offensive against civilians with a preconceived thought that they are Maoist supporters, which is not correct, the forces ran over three villages including Tarmetla last month only because police thought they are Maoist supporters.’’
The Chhattisgarh government ordered on 31 March in the state Assembly a judicial probe into the brutalities on civilians allegedly by policemen.