Maoists relent : allow officials to survey tigers

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Maoists let tiger census officials enter their den

Gyan Varma / DNA

Tuesday, April 6, 2010 1:29 IST

 

*New Delhi: *Even as security agencies are busy fighting the bloodiest

battle against Maoists, the red brigade is actually helping the environment

and forests ministry conduct the tiger census.

For the first time in a decade, wildlife officials have managed to enter

three tiger reserves in Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand that were earlier

out of their reach.

 

After having detailed discussions with the Maoists in these three jungles

and helping them understand the threat to Indian tigers, scientists and

forest officials finally managed to enter Indravati tiger reserve in

Chhattisgarh, Simlipal in Orissa and Palamu in Jharkhand.

 

“These tiger reserves are Maoist dens. But this time, we will have tiger

census in these areas. Census in Indravati will be conducted in the second

phase that would start after the monsoon,” Qamar Qureshi, a scientist in the

Wildlife Institute of India that is spearheading the tiger census, said.

 

Senior officials of the National Tiger Conservation Authority said not just

helping with the tiger census, Maoists have even agreed not to attack forest

guards and offices in these reserves.

 

“During the last census, we could not find out the number of tigers living

in those areas because they were completely under Maoist control,” said a

senior official in the environment ministry.

 

The officer said tiger figures were expected to go up since these reserves

have remained out of reach for humans. “We expect a rise in tiger population

because no one has dared to go inside these reserves for years. Maoists are

known to protect wild animals. Even poachers won’t dare enter these

reserves,” the official added.

 

“We have been allowed limited access to the area. But at least we would know

the state of the big cats in these reserves,” the official said.

 

Sources in the ministry also said attacks on forest officials and guards

have stopped in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh because of the

regular discussions with the red brigade.

 

“We are in regular contact with Maoists and they have agreed not to attack

forest guards and officials who are deployed in these jungles for the

protection of wild animals,” the official said. He said discussions with

Naxalites started after the red brigade destroyed a forest office in

Simlipal.

 

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_maoists-let-tiger-census-officials-enter-th\

eir-den_1367911

Massacre Prompts Debate Over India's Maoists War

By Sumon K. Chakrabarti /

Dantewada<http://www.time.com/time/letters/email_letter.html> Monday,

Apr. 12, 2010

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A paramilitary soldier injured by Maoist rebels is hoisted into an ambulance

in Jagdalpur, India.

TV9 / AP

 

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The undulating hills and thick vegetation of Dandakaranya forest — nearly

50,000 square kilometers of jungle straddling parts of central Indian states

of Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and the southern state of Andhra Pradesh — has

for decades been a forsaken, off-the-map region frequented only by corporate

India looking to make a killing from the iron ore reserves of the land.

Indeed, for close to 10 years now, the area has remained off limits for the

Indian government and its agencies, including the police and the military.

It is one of the few pockets of India that has not been topographically

surveyed. No good maps exist of the region. The only " government " the tribal

people of these forests are acquainted with is provided by a fearsome band

of insurgents: " Janatana Sarkar, " the people's government run by the

guerrillas of the Communist Party of India-Maoists (CPI-Maoists), for whom

most of the forest is a de facto military headquarters. (See how India is

stepping up its fight against the

Maoists.)<http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1940559,00.html>

 

But just weeks ago, New Delhi decided to challenge the rebels who carry Mao

Zedong's name and who are waging the bloodiest insurgency India has ever

seen. The government announced that 50,000 paramilitary troops would be part

of Operation Greenhunt, with tough-talking Home Minister of India,

Palaniappan Chidambaram, promising to " wipe off the Maoist movement in the

next two-three years. " As part of this campaign, police and para-military

forces last week engaged in a four-day " area domination " exercise near the

village of Datewada in the Dandakaranya forest. But the Maoists were not

about to let this incursion into their territory pass with impunity.

 

The 80 members of the government's Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were

taking a break on April 6 at around 6 a.m. after traveling all night, when

they were ambushed by what some officials estimate to be 400 Maoists

positioned on a neighboring hilltop. The Maoists executed their attack with

fierce precision, giving the soldiers no chance to react. They blew up an

anti-landmine vehicle and then began firing indiscriminately. The shocked

and exhausted soldiers, who had not been able to follow standard procedures

like checking the road for landmines ahead of time, were massacred within

minutes. The guerrillas — both men and women — then took away AK-47 and

Insas rifles, the mortars, magazines of ammunition and bullet-proof jackets

from their victims. Of the 80 Indian troops on exercise, 76 were killed. (Read

" India Steps Up Its Fight Against

Naxalites " )<http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1940559,00.html>

 

While admitting that it lost eight fighters in the three-hour long attack,

the Maoist spokesman justified the massacre in a three-page faxed statement,

saying: " The CRPF battalion deployed in [in Chattisgarh] were killing

innocent people, burning villages, raping women and displacing... people. We

also wanted to take revenge of killing of our top leaders... " (See how

India's schools have been caught in the cross-fire in the fight against the

Maoists.)<http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1946516,00.html?iid=sphe\

re-inline-sidebar>

 

It has been the most significant government setback in the undeclared war

between the two Indias. The Maoists thrive in the 'other' India — the India

which is impoverished, left behind as one-fifth of the country's populace

has begun to thrive, while the other 800 million suffer with growing

resentment from chronic poverty, live without electricity, roads, hospitals,

proper sanitation or clean water — the classic breeding ground for left-wing

extremist violence. As Mao himself prescribed in 1927, " It's necessary to

bring about a brief reign of terror in every rural area... To right a wrong

it is necessary to exceed the proper limit. " Naxalism, as Indian Maoism is

also called — after a village named Naxalbari at the movement's origins —

has rapidly outstripped the insurgencies in Jammu & Kashmir and North-East

India. Maoists have a presence in at least 16 of India's 28 states, and

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described Naxalism as the " biggest

internal security challenge " that faces the country.

 

India today is groping for answers on how to respond to the Maoist attack.

Chidambaram's strategy had appeared to be working. Many top Maoist leaders,

including Politburo members, had been arrested; the Maoists had indeed

offered to negotiate. Their chief military officer, Kishanji — nom de guerre

of Mallojula Koteswara Rao — even gave out his cellphone number to

Chidambaram to facilitate talks. " But actually they were retreating so that

they can regroup. This is how the Maoists always operate. But still we have

not learnt anything, " says K. P. S. Gill, formerly one of India's top police

officers, who had advised the Chattisgarh government in a previous

anti-Maoist operation.

 

Privately, many senior leaders in the ruling Congress party had complained

to their party president Sonia Gandhi that Home Minister Chidambaram had

used unnecessarily provocative language when talking about the Maoists. But

Prime Minister Singh refused to accept Chidambaram's offer to resign after

the massacre. With the central government still debating how to deal with

the Maoists, there is confusion on the ground about how to tackle the

insurgency. K.P.S. Gill says it's now time to rethink the entire strategy

and criticizes Chidambaram for giving the go ahead to a " flawed

operation. " (See

pictures of India's turning

points.)<http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1649065,00.html>

 

Those in India who perceive Chidambaram to be a " warmonger " argue that

growing social disparities thrown up by India's economic growth have been a

major factor behind the rebels' expansion. They say the government needs to

provide a more equitable distribution of its growing wealth. " Let's not

forget the killing of more than a hundred tribal villagers by the security

forces since June 2009 ... It's time the nation starts to work towards

ceasefire and cessation of hostilities so as to help initiate dialogue with

the Maoists, and to address the real issues affecting the people like forced

corporate or state acquisition of land, displacement, tribal rights and the

lack of governance, " says Dr. Ranabir Samaddar, Director of Calcutta

Research Group.

 

Meanwhile, India's Armed Forces are not anxious to join the fight. The new

Indian army chief General V. K. Singh has blamed the lack of training and

tactics in jungle warfare as well as command and control for the loss of the

76 troopers. He ruled out any role of the military — that is, the security

forces of India's federal government — in the ongoing operation. " The

Naxalite problem is a law and order problem, which is a state subject. It

stems from certain issues on the ground, be it of governance, be it of

administration, be it of socio-economic factors. And since it is not a

secessionist movement, I think our polity is astute and wise enough to know

the implications of using the Army against their own people. " The chief of

the Indian Air Force, Air Marshal P V Naik also expressed his unwillingness

to use the Air Force and its unmanned drones in ongoing anti-Maoist

operations. " Unless we are 120% sure that the Naxals are the country's

enemies, it will not be fair to use the Air Force within our borders. "

 

The Director General of Police of Chattisgarh Vishwa Ranjan admits that " the

[paramilitary] forces need to be trained specifically for this, which

unfortunately we don't do. It's time all of us sit up and act, " he says.

Still, he insists he is " prepared to take casualties. " He told TIME: " We are

in a war. And no war is won without people dying. "

 

 

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