[chhattisgarh-net] Digest Number 1716

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 05:36:11 -0800

Title: chhattisgarh-net

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1.

Acts of Terror and Terrorising Act: Unfolding Indian Tragedy

Posted by: "Sukla Sen" suklas...@yahoo.co.uk   suklasen

Sat Dec 20, 2008 9:03 am (PST)


Acts of Terror and Terrorising Act

Unfolding Indian Tragedy

In some circles, it is argued that the judiciary places unnecessary
curbs on the power of the investigating agencies to tackle terrorism. In
India, those who subscribe to this view also demand changes in our
criminal and evidence law — such as provisions for longer periods of
preventive detention and confessions made before police officials to be
made admissible in court. While the ultimate choice in this regard lies
with the legislature, we must be careful not to trample upon
constitutional principles such as 'substantive due process.'
...
The role of the judiciary in this regard should not be misunderstood.
Adherence to the constitutional principle of 'substantive due process'
is an essential part of our collective response to terrorism. As part of
the legal community, we must uphold the right to fair trial for all
individuals, irrespective of how heinous their crimes may be. If we
accept a dilution of this right, it will count as a moral loss against
those who preach hatred and violence.

K. G. Balakrishnan, Chief Justice of India

It is a matter great shame and concern that the amended UAPA Act which
had been placed before the Lok Sabha on Tuesday evening was passed
unanimously the very next day, on Dec. 17.
Similarly, the Rajya Sabha passed it the following evening.
This is almost a rerun of the shameful saga concerning the saga of the
highly controversial and contested SEZ Act in early 2005. There is,
however, at least one crucial difference. In the earlier case, it was a
rather quiet affair, almost a hush-hush. This time it was done amidst
ugly chest-thumping. Last time, in the Lok Sabha, the BJP did not even
participate in the deliberations. This time they claimed with full gusto
the credit (sic) for the passage of the Bill overshadowing its official
sponsors.

While the full details remain to be accessed and analysed, it is pretty
much clear that most of the provisions of the earlier scrapped POTA, on
account of strong reactions triggered by a history of huge misuse
against the minorities, other marginalised sections of the society,
people struggling against social and political injustices and also known
opponents of those in positions of power have been brought back. Only
the provision for legal admissibility of a "confession" made in police
custody is left out. But there are other areas, where its reach has
further extended. The most important aspect, however, is that the court
has to treat an accused as guilty till proved otherwise and unless the
court finds the accused prima facie innocent it won't grant any bail to
the accused. In case of a "foreign national", there is just no provision
for any bail, whatever. This evidently runs counter to the recent
Supreme Court directive that during a trial granting of bail should be
the norm, and rejection an exception.

Even the BJP's start speaker in the Rajya sabha, Arun Jaitley, had to
thus admit in course of his shrill advocacy for a draconian Act while
supporting the Bill:
Quote
It is obvious that an anti terror law is not a substitute for stronger
intelligence and security responses. You need a powerful intelligence
mechanism which infiltrates into the enemy camp and brings you advance
information of what the enemy is planning. The intelligence has to be
coordinated and then effectively passed on to those who will take
preventive measures. Your security responses have to be fast. Your
commando reactions must send fear into the enemy mind. Obviously, an
anti terror law is not a replacement of all these.
Unquote
[Source:
http://offstumped.nationalinterest.in/2008/12/18/arun-jaitleys-speech-in\
-rajya-sabha-on-nia-uapa-bills/
<http://offstumped.nationalinterest.in/2008/12/18/arun-jaitleys-speech-i\
n-rajya-sabha-on-nia-uapa-bills/> .]

It is not necessary here to get into the utterly perverse nature of
Jaitley's foundational assumption of some perpetual enmity and a
permanent "enemy camp" except for noting that this is the central
element of mobilization strategy of the Hindutva Brigade in pursuance of
its "Hindu Rashtra" project – ideological negation and physical
liquidation of "secular democratic" India.. But what is more relevant is
that even he cannot run away from the obvious fact that draconian laws
are no substitute for good intelligence gathering (to prevent acts of
terrorism) and prompt and effective response to such acts when they take
place nevertheless.

A rider, a forewarning, issued by the incumbent Chief Justice of India,
in a recent article of his is extremely instructive in the current
context:
Quote
(T)he trauma resulting from the terrorist attacks may be used as a
justification for undue curtailment of individual rights and liberties.
Instead of offering a considered response to the growth of terrorism, a
country may resort to questionable methods such as permitting indefinite
detention of terror suspects, the use of coercive interrogation
techniques, and the denial of the right to fair trial. Outside the
criminal justice system, the fear generated by terrorist attacks may
also be linked to increasing governmental surveillance over citizens and
unfair restrictions on immigration.
.....
This implies that we must be wary of the use of torture and other forms
of coercive interrogation techniques by law enforcement agencies.
Coercive interrogation techniques mostly induce false confessions and do
not help in preventing terrorist attacks. Furthermore, the tolerance of
the same can breed a sense of complacency if they are viewed as an easy
way out by investigative agencies.
Unquote
[Source: <http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/16/stories/2008121653310800.htm
<http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/16/stories/2008121653310800.htm> >.]

Pretty unfortunately, but rather expectedly, the entire thrust of the
discourse spearheaded by the outraged elite is to "tighten the law" to
ensure "conviction" of the accused by granting more powers to the law
enforcing agencies whose performance in stalling terrorist attacks
amidst repeated claims of busting the "terror modules" and capturing,
and also "neutralising" through encounters, the (innumerable)
"masterminds" remains utterly and increasingly dismal. Highly
conspicuous is any anxiety to ensure an efficient investigation and
effective intelligence gathering and making those responsible for
failures accountable for their failures.
Draconian laws, let there be no confusion, will only tend to turn the
highhanded, corrupt and lousy police force even more so and thereby
further worsen the situation. Not that there will not be more
convictions and many more arrests, indefinite detentions, custodial and
encounter deaths. The continued incarceration of Dr. Binayak Sen – a
dedicated doctor of highest distinction and a human rights activist of
national stature - behind the bars since May 2007 on apparently trumped
up charges despite national and global protests, even without the aid of
the newly brushed up UAPA Act, is enough of a pointer. But that will not
stop or deter terrorism, rather further aggravate. It is a great tragedy
that such measure is being sold and consumed considered as the silver
bullet in spite of clearly proven track record of gross failures. The
attack on the Indian Parliament, the Red Fort, Akshardham temple in
Gandhinagar and also the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane to
Kandahar are just a few examples. All these are, incidentally, of
somewhat nature as that of the latest attack in Mumbai.

The latest terror attack in Mumbai, which is somewhat atypical in the
context of endless terror attacks in India since the one on March 12
1993 - flowing directly from the preceding bloodbath sparked on January
6 1993 – has, however, one common characteristic. That is the gross
failure of intelligence.
Intelligence gathering and sorting out of the same through interactions
of various agencies into actionable knowledge has various stages and
levels. The gathering itself has essentially two categories –
domestic and external. The external element is of course the charge of a
very specialized agency mainly through a set of trained "spies", and
tips from other "friendly" agencies. The internal gathering process is,
however, far more varied. Even then the base, and the most crucial
element, is constituted of intelligence gathering at the grassroots
level. Here the present practice is to obtain information through paid
"informers" – all sorts of shady characters, petty and professional
criminals. Given the extremely negative image of the police vis-à-vis
the local communities, it could hardly be otherwise. But this method
cannot but be far less efficient than would have been in case of
voluntary and free flow of information from the common citizenry. But
that would call for a very different image of the police. A very
different relationship with the local communities. Instead of an
institution symbolizing and embodiment of torture and oppression, the
police has to have a people-friendly image in order to make that
possible. But in such an event, not only intelligence gathering would be
far more efficient – but that would rather be a fringe benefit –
the maintenance of "law and order" itself would be much smoother.
Nothing can be truer and more forthright than a recent assessment of the
current state of Indian policing as contained in a statement issued by
the Asian Human Rights Commission on the last December 2, in the wake of
the terror attack in Mumbai.
Quote
The fact remains that the Maharashtra State Police, like any other state
police force in the country, can hardly do anything to avert these
incidents. The state of policing in the country is in such demise that
it has completely severed its contact with the people. Most police
officers contact the members of the public only to demand bribes.
Corruption in the police service is at such levels that even in order to
lodge a complaint the complainant has to pay a bribe.
Police brutality is so rampant in the country that the sight of a police
uniform is enough to scare an ordinary person, particularly among the
poor population. Information, independent of its nature, has to be
forced out of the ordinary people. Information obtained under the threat
of violence is tainted and cannot be acted upon. Terrorists are
different from the ordinary people in the sense that they have money,
better training and equipment at their disposal to achieve their goals.
They can bribe the police and are in fact doing so.
…..
To expect an ordinary Indian to approach the local police with
information is an impossibility in the country. An example is the
statements made by the parents who lost their children in the infamous
2006 December Noida serial murder case. The case began after the
recovery of the skeletal remains of missing children in Nithari village
in the outskirts of Noida city close to New Delhi.
Unquote
[Source:
<http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2008statements/1789/
<http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2008statements/1789/> >.]

The unfortunate "unanimous" passage of the freshly amended Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Act is only an indicator of the deep rot in the
system. It is no less revealing that during the debates no one
reportedly raised the very sensible and in fact obvious demand for a
credible public enquiry covering all the aspects of widely alleged
intelligence failure, response lags and lapses, who are behind the
attack and why to work out a set of thoughtful and rational responses to
make the system at least somewhat less vulnerable the next time round;
to make the reoccurrence significantly less probable; to make such a
tragedy far less costly if it manages to happen nevertheless. We had
only chest thumping demagoguery, clamour for draconian laws and war
cries all around.
Instead of helping contain terrorism, let alone eradicating, it will
only further aggravate social tensions through legitimization of corrupt
highhandedness of the police force and targeting of specific segments of
the society with full protections of the law. It is perhaps Gorky who
had pronounced that if order is injustice then disorder is the beginning
of justice. Unfortunately, law itself predictably turning more and more
unlawful and tyrannical, more and more youngsters would tend to embrace
that as a piece of divine wisdom with disastrous consequences on all
sides to follow.
That even the sage words of the serving Chief Justice of India stand so
casually dismissed only goes to further underscore the depth of the
tragedy we have dug ourselves in.
Only an awakened common citizenry refusing to succumb to the easy lure
of ugly blood lust triggered by such disasters as the last terror attack
in Mumbai and steadfastly demanding thoughtful actions and radical
reforms to prevent recurrence of such shameful failure is the way to get
ourselves out.

Sukla Sen
19 12 08

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2.

Caught in the middle : A story in HT from Nendra

Posted by: "Shubhranshu Choudhary" s...@cgnet.in

Sat Dec 20, 2008 7:22 pm (PST)

Caught in the middle
By Kumkum Dasgupta
from Dantewada, Hindustan Times

THE SCORPIO took a sharp turn to the right and we were inside a thick sal
forest. It was late afternoon and as our jeep ploughed through the tall,
wild grass, Uday - our guide - directed us to roll down the windows lest the
"dadas think we are government officials and blow us up". We did as he
asked. After all, this was Konta block in Dantewada district - Naxal
territory - and it was best not to take chances.

Our destination was Nendra, a village which like many others here, was
caught in the crossfire between the government and the Naxals.

Nendra has been attacked four times over the years by security forces. The
severest of these was in March 2007 when a Naga battalion and Salwa Judum
(the governmentbacked anti-Naxal vigilante group) cadres came looking for
Naxal informers. On seeing them approach, the tribals ran away into the
jungles. But some children bathing by a borewell were left behind. When the
soldiers did not find the adults, they shot the children. Twelve died.
Scared, the residents of Nendra took refuge in the jungles, before setting
up camp in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. Then again in June, SJ cadres from
the Errabore camp burnt 11 houses in Nendra, angry that the villagers had
met a national human rights team.

More than 20,000 adivasis from Chhattisgarh are camping in Andhra Pradesh,
it is estimated, driven out by the SJ. There are more in camps in Orissa and
Maharashtra.

After a 15-minute drive through the forest, we reached Nendra. Sitting on a
raised bamboo platform (which doubles as temporary home for those who have
returned), we found some villagers chatting animatedly while others were
sleeping inside mosquito nets. (Malaria is a big threat.) Mutsaki Kanna
welcomed me to Nen dra. "This village is dead. We haven't had a marriage
here in years because the sound of the dhol would attract the SJ." But what
about the Naxals? Kanna was silent.

The government has withdrawn all services from Nendra. No new ID cards were
issued for the recent polls and no booths opened.

Wandering around, I spied the 'hut' (just four bamboo poles and a thatch
roof that) of Mutari Malle - a new returnee, I was told - and went in. Her
two daughters were rolling on the mud floor and she refused to speak. The
digital camera proved to be the icebreaker. I clicked some photos and showed
them to her and the kids; she opened up. She had a comfortable life, tilling
the land and foraging the forests for mahua, imli, and tora, she says. Then
the SJ cadres came and took away her livestock, burnt her home and carried
away her daughter; so she fled. Those were hard days in the Andhra camp:
they were treated like outsiders and lived on handouts. But that's forgotten
now she's back in Nendra with her husband and children. They've started
working on the land, which had become full of wild grass. "The ashram people
got tractors and helped us cut the grass and level our land. They gave us
seeds," she tells me, scrubbing her brand new utensils. Life hasn't been
easy; this year's early monsoon put paid to all their hard work in the
fields. But life is picking up, she has started going to the haat again.

Like Malle, many residents of Nendra have started trickling back, thanks to
the Vanvasi Chetna Ashram, an NGO led by Himanshu Kumar. Kumar's strategy
was simple: he formed a protective 'human shield' comprising VCA activists,
who also distributed ration, clothes, medicines, utensils and seeds. The VCA
also conducted padayatras, as a confidence-building measure, through
villages caught in the crossfire. However, on September 25, the Naxals
threatened a VCA padayatra near Ondaryatra village and forced them to call
it off. Now the tribals are back to square one, afraid of what'll happen
next.

MY NEXT stop was Dornapal, the largest SJ camp. Inside, one can feel the
tension, the fear and hopeless ness. The residents, among them many Special
Police Officers (SPOs) - SJ cadres paid for and armed by the state - are
suspicious of outsiders, especially the media. Inside there are rows of
huts, some with tile or asbestos roofs. Scattered among them are garlanded
statutes of slain SPOs.

I entered a hut, home to 19-year-old SPO Sunita. The free ration and the Rs
21,00 salary were huge incentives, she tells me. Her weapon: a.303. Her
ambition: to be a police officer. But not everyone shares her optimism.
Karam Rajkumar, an 18-year-old SPO, knows he is a marked man - "Ekbare jo
naxalio ke jaal mein phas guya na, usko to who mar hi dalenge." (Once you
are caught in the Naxals' trap, they will surely kill you) Jogaram Mandawi,
who teaches at the camp school, is similarly disillusioned. There's no going
back to the village, it would mean sure death. "The government will take
10-15 years to win this war owing to disunity in the political ranks. We
have become pawns in the game." The man in charge of the 'Kashmir-like
situation' in these parts is Superintendent of Police Rahul Sharma. There's
nothing illegal in appointing SPOs, Sharma says, the Police Act provides for
them. Sharma doesn't deny excesses by the forces but says action has been
taken whenever cases have come to light. Policing, he admits, is not the
solution. "I can fight the Naxals but not Naxalism. That has to be done only
through development." "The SJ has increased our administrative problems,"
says S.P Sori, District Magistrate and the man in charge of . 'development'
here. "In the last three years, the spread of Naxalism has increased. We
can't repair schools and anganwadis because the Naxals will blow them up.
They think the CRPF will make these their base. Health and education
officials refuse to go inside and I can't force them. Only a political
solution can heal this situation." He agrees that some officers may be using
Naxalism as a ruse to avoid postings but says there's no way to judge who's
speaking the truth. Outside his office, I saw an SUV without a number plate
and the beacon. I am told that is the DM's second "official" vehicle.

But if the state has withdrawn from the Naxal-controlled areas, what's
happening to the development funds meant for them? Kumar had filed an RTI
application to find out, but the answers were vague or even completely
wrong. That, more than anything else, says a lot about the state of affairs
in Chhattisgarh. Is Raman Singh, flush from his second victory in the polls,
listening?

Side stories and quotes

The Naxals say they have 40 per cent of the district under control. We
control the other 40 and there is fierce fighting for the rest RAHUL SHARMA
Superintendent of Police, Dantewada

I have divided the district into two parts: places where officials of the
district administration can go and places we can't S.P. SORI District
Magistrate

The camps have divided tribal families and neighbourhoods. There is tension
because those who refused to relocate are seen as Naxal sympathasisers
HIMANSHU KUMAR Vanvasi Chetna Ashram

CAMPING GROUND

Security camps were set up for Naxal victims in 2005, about the same time as
the Salwa Judum. There are 23 camps in Bijapur and Dantewada districts with
a population of 56,488 people (civilians, SJ activists and SPOs), as per
government figures Human rights activists have criticised the government for
"forcibly relocating thousands of villagers to..makeshift SJ camps near
police stations or paramilitary camps along the highways". Camps are
inaccessible and unlike Dornapal, don't get rations regularly. In
Jagargunda, supplies are airlifted for security reasons.

Reports say camps in Bijapur have stopped getting rations Inside Dornapal
are rows of oneroom hutments, some with tile or asbestos roofs. There is
hardly any greenery anywhere. On one side of the camp is a large wellguarded
police camp. There are schools inside the camp but only one hospital. The
entry to the camp is regulated by SPOs - young armed men. A survey by the
VCA of threeyear-olds in the camps showed that there were more malnourished
children in the camps than in the villages

kumkum.dasgupta@hindustantimes.com
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3.

36garh Diary | 21 Dec | 2008

Posted by: "Shubhranshu Choudhary" s...@cgnet.in

Sat Dec 20, 2008 7:54 pm (PST)

Raman Singh seeks NSG centre in Chhattisgarh
Newstrack India - Delhi,India
Raipur, Dec 19 (IANS) Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh Friday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and urged him to consider the state as one of the ...
http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/51341

State polls set the tone for general elections
Merinews - New Delhi,India
This shows that the very popular Raman-effect has been a success with the masses. Also, the Rs 3 per Kg of rice under the public distribution scheme (PDS) ...
http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=153404

Maoists' frontal groups supported ganja cartel
Express Buzz - Chennai,Tamil Nadu,India
The third route was Nandapur under Koraput district-Raigarh. The CB report,according to the Commission, named one Apana Naidu, a native of Ichhapuram...
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Maoists%E2%80%99+
frontal+groups+supported+ganja+cartel&artid=juW7qXmrZhE=&SectionID=mvKkT3vj5
ZA=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=nUFeEOBkuKw=&SEO=

Raman Singh to form Cabinet on Dec 22
India Today - New Delhi,India
Raman, who had to rush back to Raipur from Delhi after his mother sufferred head injuries due to a fall in her bathroom, has already spoken to the top party ...
http://indiatoday.digitaltoday.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=
23205&sectionid=4&issueid=85&Itemid=1

Commission points at Maoist links with drug mafias
The Statesman - Kolkata,India
The illegal ganja is transported from Chitrakonda-Gobindpali-Ramgiri to Raipur in Chhatisgarh. The second route for such consignments is via ..
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=9&theme=&usrsess=1&id=236878

Chhattisgarh reshuffles 14 IAS officers
New Kerala Fri, 19 Dec 2008 9:11 PM PST
Raipur, Dec 19 : In the first ever reshuffle after retaining power in the November assembly polls, Chhattisgarh's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday reshuffled 14 officers of the Indian Administrative Services (IAS).
http://www.newkerala.com/topstory-fullnews-62900.html

Man deserts wife for giving birth to daughter
Calcutta News Sat, 20 Dec 2008 3:30 AM PST
A man deserted his wife in Chhattisgarh when she gave birth to a girl
despite having undergone a tubectomy in order not to have any more children,an official said Saturday.
http://www.calcuttanews.net/story/444425

'Red' posters push for salary hike
Calcutta Telegraph - Calcutta,India
19: Posters demanding salary revision of workers were found at the Bhilai Steel Plant this morning. Though the white sheets were apparently carrying Maoist ...
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081220/jsp/nation/story_10277469.jsp

BSP to focus on seats it did well in Assembly polls
Lucknow Newsline - Lucknow,India
The party had bagged more than 50000 votes in Bilaspur, Korba, Raigarh and Raipur, he said. In Madhya Pradesh, the party has identified 10 parliamentary ...
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/bsp-to-focus-on-seats-it-did-well-in-assembly-polls/400873/

NREGS in Naxal Affected Areas
Press Information Bureau (press release) - New Delhi,India
... Lok Sabha in reply to a written question that there has been progress in
implementation of NREGA over the years in areas affected by Naxal
activities. ...
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=45927

EC likely to announce LS poll dates in Feb-end
Times of India - India
... the EC is also taking into account delimitation, Naxal violence,
insurgency and increase in election booths to eight lakh from seven lakh at present. ...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/LS_poll_dates_may_be_out_by_Feb-end/articleshow/3864034.cms

Tribal heartland
Chandigarh Tribune - Chandigarh,India
The district headquarters of Jagdalpur are linked to the state capital
Raipur ... The road from Jagdalpur to Dantewada passes through some of the most ...
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20081220/saturday/main1.htm

Chhattisgarh's rice allocation quota will be increased: Pawar
Indopia - India
Raipur , Dec 18 Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh said the union food minister Sharad Pawar has assured to give the due share to the state in rice...
http://www.indopia.in/India-usa-uk-news/latest-news/456597/National/1/20/1

Sis marrow saves baby bro
Daily News & Analysis - Mumbai,India
Residents of Dhamtari in Chattisgarh, Bajaj's father Vinod, 31, came to know of his ailment when he was just 3 months old. Following the bone marrow ...
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1215263

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