Dear Uttam,
>There may be two possibilities. (1) The story is state propaganda and (2) The story may be true, partially or wholly. >If it is a propaganda, Ah, yes. I had plum forgotten about that distinct possibility about the TOI making this whole thing (no doubt egged on by the state machinery). So, Uttam, what about the other stories (from the TOI)? Should we discount them...? I think, I'll just cherry pick. That suits me quite well. >If it is true, partially or wholly, then the Naxals/ Maoists would lose support if those guilty of the crimes are not brought to books and awarded >exemplary punishments either by their own courts, The problem, Uttam, is that (according to the story), it is the leaders who are the ones committing the rapes. I am not really sure they will be really gung ho on some kind of court (to punish the guilty). >BTW: 2000 farmers from Chattisgarh in the meanwhile have petitioned the President asking for permission to commit suicide, because of hunger. Hunger and poverty are real issues, and I certainly think these have to be addressed in all seriousness. But tell me something, why would potential suiciders (as GW Bush loved to say) want to take the permission from anyone. If the president gave her assent, would they go ahead? Mass suicides are organized, and quite possibly lead by some political hack. But I do believe there are genuine cases, which may be in the 100s at least, and do need governmental intervention. --Ram da On Mon, Aug 23, 2010 at 10:31 PM, uttam borthakur < uttambortha...@yahoo.co.in> wrote: > > Ram Da, > There may be two possibilities. (1) The story is state propaganda and (2) > The story may be true, partially or wholly. > If it is a propaganda, we cannot know whether it is a propaganda, then > there is nothing to say, as warring sides do it by means fair or foul. > If it is true, partially or wholly, then the Naxals/ Maoists would lose > support if those guilty of the crimes are not brought to books and awarded > exemplary punishments either by their own courts, if any, or courts in which > you would like to repose faith. > BTW: 2000 farmers from Chattisgarh in the meanwhile have petitioned the > President asking for permission to commit suicide, because of hunger. You > cannot discount the possibility that driven by hunger, some people may join > the ranks of Maoists/ Naxals and continue to support them, in spite of some > rapes. After all, you and I may not be able to appreciate the pain of > chronic hunger. > > > > > > > Ram Sarangapani assamrs at gmail.com > Tue Aug 24 02:07:56 IST 2010Previous message: [Assam] for NRAs in > MontrealNext message: [Assam] Fw: Two Moons on 27th August 2010Messages > sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]And we were led to > believe that this movement (the Naxal/Maoist) was a > fight against the social injustices and radical changes.Oh Well! > > Read on................ From one of our most forwarded source TOI :-) > _______________________________________ > *Raped repeatedly, Naxal leader quits Red ranks* > > http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Raped-repeatedly-Naxal-leader-quits-Red-ranks/articleshow/6423200.cms > > Somewhere On The Bengal-Jharkhand Border: The eerie calm in the dense sal > forest is deafening. Walking along a snaking dirt track, a clear patch > appears. Sitting on a rock, hidden by thick, emerald green foliage, is the > diminutive figure of a woman, a gamchha (thin towel) covering her head. Her > blue salwar-kameez meld with the surroundings. Her eyes dart around at the > slightest hint of sound. Shobha Mandi, alias Uma, alias Shikha, gives a > searching look and then smiles. The 23-year-old CPI-Maoist Jhargram area > commander says she was expecting us. > > >From commanding 25-30 armed Maoist squad members, > Uma<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=Uma>turned a > fugitive four months ago. She fled her command post on the plea of > seeing a doctor. She hid with her aunt for a short while; and now she says > she wants the world to know her story. She wants to surrender and is likely > to give up Naxalism on August 26. > > Why did she decide to shed her battle fatigues seven years after she joined > the Naxals? "They committed injustices against which they claimed they were > fighting," said Uma. "As a recruit, I protested against the habits of some > leaders in the presence of Kishanji. Nobody liked it. The leaders > instructed > the squad members not to speak to me. I was isolated and warned of dire > consequences if I protested," she said. > > What didn't she like about the leaders? "They rape," she shot back, eyes > flashing with rage. "After about a year of joining Naxals, I was put on > night-long sentry duty at a forest camp in Jharkhand. Suddenly, out of the > dark, Bikash (now, head of the state military commission) came up and asked > me for water. As I turned to fetch it, he grabbed me and tried to do > 'kharap > kaaj' (indecent acts)." When she objected, Bikash threatened to strangle > her. After forcing her into submission, Bikash raped her, she said. She was > 17 then. > > "He warned me against telling anyone about this. But, I told Akash > (Kishanji's confidant and a state committee member). He said he would look > into it but did nothing. In fact, Akash's wife, Anu, lives with Kishanji," > Uma said. > Most women recruits are exploited by senior Maoists. Senior women leaders, > too, have multiple sexual partners, Uma said. "If a member gets pregnant, > she has no choice but to abort: A child is seen as a burden that hampers > the > agility of guerrillas." > > Uma has heard tales of brutalization of other women Naxals, too. "Seema > (then a recruit) told me that Akash raped her as well. Rahul (alias Ranjit > Pal) raped Belpahari squad commander Madan Mahato's wife, Jaba. In this > case, the party punished Rahul, who is a key weapons trainer at Maoist > camps. He was removed from the regional committee for three months," said > Uma. > > State committee secretary Sudip Chongdar, alias Goutam, was also punished > for similar acts, she said, and transferred to Jharkhand's West Singbhum > district. Maoists< > http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=Maoists>divide > time between forest camps and hideouts in villages. Villagers can't > refuse shelter to gun-toting Maoists. Also, they must keep all night vigil > to alert them against police raids. "When Sudip took shelter in villages, > he > raped women in their homes. They were too scared to protest," said Uma. > > Many of her senior leaders exploited her sexually. One day, says Uma, Kamal > Maity, who is a Bengal-Jharkhand-Orissa regional committee member, came to > her rescue. At a meeting attended by > Kishanji<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=Kishanji>and > other top Maoists, Kamal proposed a relationship with Uma. The leaders > agreed. "After Jaba's incident, I learnt that a woman cadre is protected > against sexual exploitation only if she is with a senior leader," she said. > That was a turning point and she rose steadily in Naxal ranks. > > Uma is on the police's most wanted list. She is suspected to have planned > and executed a series of attacks, including the massacre of 24 EFR jawans > in > Silda (February 2010); a raid on Sankrail > police<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=Sankrail%20police > >station > in which two policemen were killed and an officer abducted (October > 2009). She is also one of the suspects in Jharkhand > MP<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=Jharkhand%20MP>Sunil > Mahato's murder in 2007. > > She mentored PCPA > <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=PCPA>members, > including Bapi Mahato who is in jail for the > Jnaneswari <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=Jnaneswari > >train > sabotage. Last year, when the joint central and state forces advanced > into Lalgarh <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=Lalgarh> > to > break an eight-month siege, she along with other Maoists fired at the > police. In Jhargram, she is known as didi. According to a source, Uma > single-handedly built up the PCPA at Jhargram. > > Uma joined the rebels in 2003. CPI-Maoist hadn't been formed then. "I > joined > the People's War (PW) which later merged with MCC in 2004 to form > CPI-Maoist," she said. She was given a new name, Uma. "I was plump. > Anu<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=Anu>(Akash's > wife; Kishanji's companion) said I looked like Uma Bharti. So, she > named me Uma." > > Maoist leaders spotted her organizational skills. She was asked to mobilize > tribals women at Jamboni and Dahijuri in West Midnapore. She also underwent > three-month arms training at Jharkhand's Gorabandha forest. "First, we are > taught with dummy weapons using tree branches. All recruits have to fire > three bullets in their first session. Those who hit the target are picked > for armed squads," she said. > > In spite of guns and guerrilla warfare, the woman in her sometimes longs > for > simple pleasures like painting her nails or wearing earrings. But, she > says, > "We were not permitted to use even fragrant soaps, lest we get detected. > Only Lifebuoy is used by cadres." > > Did she join the rebels of her own free will? Circumstances, she said. Uma > is second of four siblings. Along with their parents, they worked as wage > earners on farms or collected sal leaves, mahua and red ants (kurkut) to > sell. "I was good in studies but weak in math. I worked all day and studied > at night," the girl from Khayerpahari village in West Bengal's Bankura > district recounted. "I couldn't pass the Class X board." > > This was in 2002. Younger brother Sanjay, who was in Class VIII, was > already > taken away by the extremists. He became a Lalgarh squad member and is in > jail now. "My father, Jamadar Mandi, was an alcoholic suffering from > tuberculosis. There was no money to buy him medicines. We sold our land and > also borrowed money," Uma said. > > While the family struggled, some "party" members offered help. "They gave > my > father some money and told me to join them. They said I could leave if I > didn't like working with them," said Uma. The prospect of a job spurred > her. > > > But only after she signed up did she realize she could never go home. > "Whoever comes here, never returns," a senior leader told her. She wanted > freedom from poverty but found herself chained to an ideology she couldn't > understand. > > After seven years of witnessing bloodletting, she has no fear of death. She > now hopes the state she has fought against will rehabilitate her. "There > are > many in the Maoist ranks who would flee given half a chance," she said. > > Read more: Raped repeatedly, Naxal leader quits Red ranks - India - The > Times of India< > http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6423200.cms#ixzz0xSlAEHOs> > http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6423200.cms#ixzz0xSlAEHOs > Uttam Kumar Borthakur > > _______________________________________________ > assam mailing list > assam@assamnet.org > http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org > _______________________________________________ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
