April 6, 2010

College Park, MD

AID strongly condemns the killing of over 70 CRPF jawans in an attack by armed people reportedly belonging to the CPI(Maoist) on Tuesday morning in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh. Our heartfelt condolences and sincere wishes are with the family members and the near and dear ones of the jawans and police personnel who have lost their lives. We hope that the government will take all necessary measures to ensure that the families of those who lost their lives are provided adequate support, compensation and provision of livelihood.

We would also take this opportunity to emphatically state that a military offensive in the heartland of India (e.g., Operation Green Hunt or its equivalents elsewhere in this region) cannot be a solution to this escalating cycle of violence that seems to be continuing unabated in Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa. As reported in various institutional reports, Dantewada district has already seen over 2 lakh people internally displaced and 650 villages emptied. The rape, killing, loot, displacement and tyranny unleashed by the state police and the Salwa Judum militia in Chhattisgarh have been chronicled by various groups and agencies, and commented upon by the Supreme Court on a number of occasions. We would like to appeal to the national and state governments, as well as to the Maoists to immediately relinquish violence and call off all military offensives, and come to the dialog table along with the grassroots and civil society groups like the Citizens Initiative for Peace, to address the real issues of deprivation, displacement, tribal rights to their lands and forests, the problematic presence of mining operations in this region, and governance or lack thereof. 

Somnath Mukherji (Boston): mukherji.somnath@gmail.com, 7816481910

Nirveek Bhattacharjee (Seattle): nirveek.aid@gmail.com, 4106277679