The Hindu : National : "Anti-naxalite operations displace 15,000 villagers in Chhattisgarh"

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Wednesday, Dec 14, 2005

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National

"Anti-naxalite operations displace 15,000 villagers in Chhattisgarh"

Staff Correspondent

Government using vigilante groups, charge civil rights organisations

NEW DELHI: A fact-finding team from civil liberties organisations has found that the Salwa Judum, touted as a spontaneous uprising against Maoists in Dantewara district in Chhattisgarh, rather than being a `peace mission', had worsened the violence.

The team alleged that the `Salwa Judum' was actually a `State-managed' vigilante enterprise and its raids had led to many deaths and the displacement of people in the Bhairamgarh, Geedam and Bijapur areas in Chhattisgarh. The 14-member team included members of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) Chhattisgarh, PUCL Jharkhand, People's Union of Democratic Rights (PUDR), Delhi, the Association for the Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), West Bengal, and the Indian Association of People's Lawyers (IAPL).

The team said around 15,000 people from 420 villages were now living as refugees in temporary camps. Repeated raids by Salwa Judum forces, the district security forces and the paramilitary Naga battalion stationed in Dantewara, on villages that refused to participate in Salwa Judum meetings, had resulted in entire villages being `cleared' and people having to move to `camps.'

There is no official record of the number of people killed in the Salwa Judum `operations', but Binayak Sen from PUCL Chhattisgarh said: "These killings are not reported, and therefore hard to corroborate. Some reports suggest that the Salwa Judum has killed 96 people from 34 villages."

The civil liberties organisations demanded that the government stop using people as shields and desist from creating armed vigilante groups in villages as part of its anti-naxalite operations. Calling upon the State Government and the naxalites to stop killing non-combatants in Chhattisgarh, the organisations said all paramilitary forces in the area be withdrawn, that the authority of the civil administration be restored, and that the government initiate a dialogue with the naxalites.

The organisations demanded a judicial enquiry into the alleged killings by the Salwa Judum and the security forces. They asked the State Government to dismantle `camps' and assist displaced people in regaining their livelihoods.

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