Nepal: Leaders of Revolutionary Maoists Baidya, Badal condemn Kishenji killing; Prachanda and Bhattarai still silent

REPUBLICA KATHMANDU, Dec 1: The Mohan Baidya faction of the UCPN (Maoist) on Thursday issued a separate statement condemning the killing of Indian Maoist leader Mallojula Koteswara Rao a.k.a. Kishenji by the Indian security forces in the dense forest of Burishol, near West Bengal-Jharkhand border on Nov 24. “We strongly condemn the killing of Kishenji in the name of encounter, and demand the central as well as West Bengal government to form a panel to investigate the incident and bring the guilty to book,” states a press statement undersigned by Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya and General Secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa. While expressing condolence over the death, Thapa and Baidya have “expressed solidarity with the Communist Party of India (Maoist) in such a sad moment”. Party establishment leaders said they were unaware about such statement. “I have not seen any such statement,” said Maoist spokesman Dinanath Sharma from the party establishment. He added that the party has not discussed issuing any statement condemning the killing.

Police fire on Kashmir protesters

 

”] At least one person has been killed and tens of others injured after clashes between Indian security forces and hundreds of demonstrators in Indian-administered Kashmir. Paramilitary police fired on the demonstrators who tried to torch a paramilitary bunker on Sunday, police said. More were injured in subsequent clashes. Hundreds of people took to the streets of Srinagar, the summer capital of India’s Jammu and Kashmir state, in an angry protest against the death of a 25-year-old who protesters alleged had died after being beaten by soldiers in a demonstration on June 12. The protesters threw rocks at security forces and surrounded an armoured vehicle belonging to paramilitary soldiers. Prabhakar Tripathi, a spokesman for the Central Reserve Police Force, said: “We exercised maximum restraint. Our soldiers opened fire only in self-defence after the protesters tried to torch the bunker.” Bad timing Al Jazeera’s Prerna Suri reporting from Srinigar, said: “The violence couldn’t have come at a more worse time for the people of Kashmir. It’s peak tourist season and families live entirely on tourism. They say if violence spreads, the only ones to suffer will be them.” The demonstration swelled after the shots were fired, when hundreds more people poured into the streets, chanting “We want freedom” and “Indian forces leave Kashmir”. Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Muslim-majority Kashmir. Opposition groups have been fighting since 1989 for the Himalayan region’s independence from India or its merger with neighbouring Pakistan.