NEW DELHI: A group of leading scholars of Bastar on Thursday wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Raman Singh, expressing concern at the ongoing violence in Dantewada district.

In their letter, they questioned the Government policy of providing military and financial support to the `Salwa Judum' movement against Maoists and their rural sympathisers. In the course of the `Salwa Judum,' the scholars pointed out, villages that refused to participate had been burnt, their goods and cattle looted and crops destroyed.

"Anywhere between 15,000 and 30,000 people have already been displaced and are living in roadside camps in terrible conditions. We gather that the administration plans to relocate them in permanent settlements attached to police stations," they wrote.

In view of the `Salwa Judum' starting in Konta, people have fled in large numbers to neighbouring States. The Government's policy, the letter said, had resulted in Adivasis facing permanent destruction of their culture, besides losing their customary rights over their land and forest resources.

The scholars urged the Government to ensure that killing and looting stopped immediately, and that people were enabled to return to their villages.

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