India: Maoists attack Iron ore mine’s plunder and paramilitary

Maoists kill two CISF men in Chhattisgarh

Monday, 05 November 2012
The Pioneer, Staff Reporter | Dantewada

Two paramilitary personnel from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) were killed on Sunday when heavily-armed Maoists opened fire at an iron ore mining area.

According to the police, the attack was carried out at a checkpost on a hilltop at Akash Nagar, which is close to iron ore deposit number 5 in Bailadila hills of Dantewada district.

Chhatisgarh: Iron ore extraction from state-owned iron ore mine NMDC

NMDC Ltd, India’s largest iron ore producer and exporter in the public sector, has several massive mines in Bailadila hills, made up of Bacheli and Kirandul areas. “It was a well-planned attack on a hilltop. Maoists perfectly exploited foggy weather in the morning period and fired several rounds at the checkpost. CISF Head Constable PN Chatterjee was killed on the spot, while Constable KR Arjun succumbed to his injuries at the hospital,” a source at police headquarters told The Pioneer.

Chatterjee belonged to West Bengal while Arjun from Maharashtra.

The rebels, estimated to be up to two dozen in number, also took away an AK-47 and a self-loading rifle (SLR) which belonged to the killed jawans.

Police claimed that within 20 minutes of the attack, the CISF had deployed roughly 50 jawans from its nearby barracks to apprehend the attackers, but ultras managed to climb down from their hilltop position and move to safer and forested areas.

NMDC officials admitted that the Maoist attack triggered panic and fear among the morning shift staff but mining work remained unaffected.

Dantewada district is part of sprawling and restive Bastar region where Maoists run a parallel Government in the interiors since late 1980s. The outlawed Maoists have carried out a string of deadly attacks on CISF jawans since early 2008 at both the Bacheli and Kirandul mines, and have also damaged tracks on a number of occasions in a bid to stop NMDC carrying away iron ore from Bailadila hills to Andhra Pradesh’s port city Vishakhapatnam.

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The Hindu, Raipur, November 4, 2012

Two CISF men killed in Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh

Two Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) troopers were on Sunday killed when a group of heavily armed Naxals attacked a security post in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district.

The attack took place early Sunday morning in the Bacheli complex of the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) mines which is guarded by the paramilitary force. Continue reading

India: Maoist protest week hits life in Chhattisgarh interiors

[The Maoist party (CPI(Maoist) issued a statement giving background on this protest.  They said, “The Indian Army is establishing a counter-guerilla training school in a sprawling area of 750 sq.kms  in Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh. This area is home to an ancient Adivasi community. Since two decades the government has been citing that these Adivasis are becoming an extinct human society. At present,  establishing an army centre in a vast expanse of this area means speeding up of this process. Since five years the Chhattisgarh government has been propagating that top Maoist leaders are taking shelter in these mountains and that they are openly carrying out their activities and had turned this into a military camp. Since two years the brutal Operation Green Hunt has been unleashed by it here. Due to the establishment of the Army training camp the very existence of the Adivasis here will be put in severe peril. In fact, looting the valuable mineral resources from these areas is their actual goal behind all this. People are vehemently opposing this. Now army has been deployed as part of suppressing this severe protest. Our party is severely condemning this. Our party is calling upon the people to intensify mass struggles against this.

Our party is calling upon the people to make success the protest week to be observed in Central Region, i.e., in Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh-Odisha border area from July 4th to 11th demanding the immediate scrapping of the Army training school in Maad area. Our party is appealing to the entire Indian masses, democrats and well-wishers of Adivasis to make success this protest week.”  The entire statement can be seen at http://www.bannedthought.net/India/CPI-Maoist-Docs.  —  Frontlines ed.]

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Raipur, July 4 (IANS) A protest week called by the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) began Monday in Chhattisgarh, hitting life in the state’s vast forested interiors, police said.

‘The protest week has hit life in the interior pockets of Bastar’s 40,000 sq km area where operators have kept buses and smaller passenger vehicles off the road fearing a Maoist attack,’ a senior officer at the police headquarters here told IANS.

The official added that hundreds of police and paramilitary troopers have been relocated to strengthen security in the jungle areas vulnerable to attacks.

Reports coming in from the interiors of Dantewada, Bijapur and Narayanpur districts say Maoists have blocked dozens of key forested roads and people remained indoors. The rebels have distributed pamphlets and asked people to join their protest week.

The Maoists have called the protest against the security forces’ entry into their terrain. They have sought withdrawal of troopers from their strongholds in Bastar and the scrapping of an army training camp at Abujhmad forest in Bastar. Continue reading

India: Maoists reject President’s peace appeal, announce protest week

by JOSEPH JOHN, IndiaExpress.com
Raipur, June 27, 2011 : Rejecting President Pratibha Patil’s call for peace talks, Maoists have announced a ‘protest week’ from July 4 in Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra and on the Andhra-Odisha Border (AOB), demanding immediate scrapping of the Army training school being set up in the foothills of Abujmarh in tribal Bastar.

Maoists announce protest week from July 4 in Chhatisgarh, Andhra Pradash, Maharashtra

In two separate statements issued late last night, Communist Party of India (Maoist) central committee spokesman Abhay said the President’s call to Maoists to come forward for peace talks came at a time when a battalion-strong Army have already been sent in with the intention to involve them in the so-called operation green hunt.

Such a proposal for talks comes when governments and corporates have entered into memoranda of understanding (MOUs) to exploit vast mineral wealth in the region and security forces are unleashing terror and committing atrocities on the poor in tribal areas,” he alleged, adding that Maoist leader Azad ― who had initiated a process for peace talks with the government ― was killed in a fake encounter.

Maoists appealed to the people to impress upon the President to call off ongoing operations and withdraw the paramilitary forces from the tribal areas. They also want the Army training centre scrapped, as well as all MOUs and the land acquisition process. “If the governments accept these demands, Maoists will stop the counter violence,” the CPI (Maoist) spokesman said.

Abhay said the CPI (Maoist) would intensify the mass struggle against the presence of the Army in Maad region in Narayanpur district, Chhattisgarh as the area was home to ancient tribal communities.

Both government and Army have maintained their presence in Bastar was only for the purpose of training and not to run anti-Naxalite operations.

India: Maoists respond to new Indian state offensive

[The Indian mass media dutifully reports the government and police announcements.  Frontlines here posts an Indian TV report, followed by an article from The Times of India, (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-06-14/india/29656088_1_narayanpur-maoist-hit-states-chhattisgarh-orissa).  Following these, we post a detailed statement from the Communist Party of India (Maoist) responding to the same events. — Frontlines ed.]

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Orissa govt seeks Centre’s help to counter Maoists

New Delhi, June 15 (ANI): Orissa Government has sought from Home Ministry additional security personnel to counter Maoist menace in the state. After his meeting with the Home Minister P Chidambaram in New Delhi on Tuesday, Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said that the state needs additional security force to deal with increasing Maoist attacks.

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Anti-Maoist ops on Chhattisgarh-Orissa border to be intensified

Vishwa Mohan, TNN Jun 14, 2011

NEW DELHI: As naxals intensified their attack in Chhattisgarh killing 18 security personnel in three separate incidents last week, the Centre will hold a special meeting here on Tuesday to discuss ‘counter-offensive’ measures with the state chief minister Raman Singh and his Orissa counterpart Naveen Patnaik.

The meeting, to be chaired by the Union home minister P Chidambaram, will discuss how both the states can further intensify operations against left wing extremists along the Orissa-Chhattisgarh border in a much more coordinated manner.

An official said, “Though we have had instances of naxal attacks in Dantewada and Narayanpur last week, Chhattisgarh has eliminated a number of Maoists in the past couple of months during joint operations. The need of the hour is to further intensify it, taking help from bordering states.”

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COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST)

CENTRAL COMMITTEE

Press Release

June 15, 2011

Fight back the new state offensive in Chhattisgarh and Odisha
as part of Operation Green Hunt – Phase II!

Any fascist offensive aimed at looting this country is bound to be defeated by the courageous resistance of the self-respecting people of India!

On 14-06-2011 the Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram had a high level meeting with the chief ministers of Chhattisgarh and Odisha and announced a new brutal offensive in these two states to contain ‘Left Wing Extremism (LWE)’. In the guise of his oft-repeated two-pronged mantra of ‘development and police action’, the HM promised full support of the centre for these states in their cruel offensive and egged them on to go ahead in full swing. Naveen Patnaik, the blood-thirsty CM of Odisha whose hands are already stained with the blood of hundreds of people of Odisha offered as human sacrifices for this ‘God of development’ right from Kalinga Nagar to Niyamgiri is now asking for helicopters to bomb the hapless adivasis. Raman Singh who would perhaps go down in history as the saffron fascist who sounded the death knell for one of the most ancient inhabitants in the world in Bastar, tried to cover up his growing alarm at the increasing heroic armed resistance of the people in his state with high-sounding rhetoric on how to go about decimating Maoists. A few days back in the first week of June (within a  week of  another meeting with the chief ministers of ‘Maoist affected’ states led by the PM and HM) an announcement had already been made by the AP and Odisha governments that a three-month long big offensive is ready to be launched on Andhra-Odisha Border region (AOB) to decimate the Maoists there. They announced that they would use modern technology and new methods and tactics of attacking utilizing ‘water, air and land’. They said paratroopers may also be used. And now the whole country knows that the army had already been deployed in Chhattisgarh under the pretext of ‘training’. Continue reading

India: A Protest Against State Terrorism in Chhattisgarh


Apr 1, 2011
A PROTEST against the burning of villages by COBRA and paramilitary forces, with state police SPOs…

REPEAL CSPSA and UAPA!
BJP Government, STOP sponsored attacks on activists, messengers and media!
STOP Salwa Judum and strategic hamletting!
STOP Operation Greenhunt, Resource Grab and Adivasi Killings!
FREE Dr. Binayak Sen, who spoke against the atrocities of the Salwa judum and State Repression!

THE PROTEST DEMONSTRATION ORGANISED BY:

PEOPLE’S UNION FOR DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS (PUDR)

PEOPLE’S UNION FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES (PUCL)

WOMEN AGAINST SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND STATE REPRESSION

DELHI SOLIDARITY GROUP (DSG)

NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF PEOPLE’S MOVEMENTS (NAPM)

India: Chhattisgarh may sack cops dodging Maoist area postings


Sify News

2010-09-08

Chhattisgarh, one of the states worst hit by Maoist insurgency, is thinking of suspending or dismissing from service 31 policemen who are declining new postings, mostly in Maoist hotbeds, an official said here Tuesday.

‘The police headquarters has taken a stern view over deliberate delay by 31 policemen — 15 inspectors and 16 sub-inspectors — to join in new postings after they were transferred several weeks ago. Now they have been issued one-sided relieve orders,’ Inspector General of Police Pawan Deo told IANS.

“The police department is mulling over a decision to suspend or dismiss them (from service) if they continue to lobby to get their posting orders in Maoists areas reversed,’ a senior police officer said.

”These days it is becoming a trend in the state that every policeman uses all his contacts, even lobby through politicians, to get his transfer order in Maoist belt revoked,’ he added. Continue reading

In Chhattisgarh’s war zone, no value on an adivasi’s life


The Hindu, 10 August 2010

by Aman Sethi


After ‘encounter’, police try to buy villagers’ silence with money and snacks

A cloud of doubt looms large over the scene of last week’s bloody encounter


Kutrem (CHHATTISGARH): The monsoon skies have cleared over this village in Dantewada district, but a cloud of doubt still lingers over the site of last week’s encounter between the police and suspected cadres of the CPI (Maoist).

On August 4, according to the official version, the Koya commandos spent 18 hours combing through the rain-soaked forests near Kutrem, during which they broke through a Maoist ambush, engaged in a fierce gun battle lasting several hours and ultimately recovered the body of a uniformed Maoist fighter, a 12 bore shotgun and two improvised explosive devices.

The Koya commandos are a specialised police team largely comprising surrendered Maoists or Adivasis whose families have been targets of Maoist violence.

“We were ambushed deep in the jungle and fought the Maoists for about four hours,” said a policeman who was part of the operation, “We fired hundreds of rounds of ammunition … and killed six Maoists, but could recover only one body.” The corpse was identified as Kunjami Joga, a 23-year-old resident of Kutrem.

Villagers’ account

At Kutrem, however, the villagers have a very different account of the circumstances that led to Joga’s death. Continue reading

Half of Chhattisgarh’s diamond belt is in Maoist strongholds

2  August, 2010

 

'here be diamonds'

Diamond reserves could be present in eight belts in Chhattisgarh, half of which according to the police are in Maoist strongholds, Chief Minister Raman Singh said Monday.

“A total eight belts have been listed as having possible reserves of kimberlite that contains diamonds,” Singh informed the assembly in a written reply to Congress member and former chief minister Ajit Jogi.

Singh said that districts of Bijapur, Dantewada, Bastar, Kanker and Narayanpur were among the list of possible diamond rich areas.

These five districts form a sprawling 40,000 sq km Maoist stronghold since late 1980s.

Police claim that up to 25,000 sq km area is intensively mined by Maoists and rebels run a parallel government in hundreds of villages of these districts with their hideouts ringed by land mines.

The chief minister said that Chhota Dongar belt in Bastar, Narayanpur and Bijapur districts was among the eight listed for possible diamond reserves.

The others are Tokapal belt in Bastar, Dantewada and Bijapur, Narayanpur-Lanjor belt in Kanker, Bastar, Narayanpur districts, Kanker-Keshkal belt in Kanker, Durg, Dhamtari and Bastar districts, Behradih belt in Raipur and Dhamtari districts, Pithora in Mahasamund and Raipur districts, Sarangarh belt in Raigarh, Janjgir, Mahasamund and Raipur districts and Eib-Maini belt in Jashpur, Raigarh and Surguja districts.

Source: http://www.deccanherald.com