Epilogue Press

EPILOGUE PRESS / ADNI
by JOGINDER SINGH
Maoists and their helpless victims, as well as the State Governments have been playing mouse and cat game, victims being mouse and the Maoists being the proverbial unrelenting and implacable cat. Kidnapping of a Collector and a Junior Engineer, by proxy has brought the Government of Orissa to its knees, and the might of the State both Central and State Government, like in the past, has abjectly surrendered, to the bullying, kidnapping and extortion tactics of the Maoists.

While all kinds of proclamations are made, from time to time, to defend the integrity of the Nation, against the terrorists and foreign Nations, yet at the home front, the Governments wittingly or unwittingly has adopted the safest policy of capitulation, whether it was West Bengal of Jharkhand or other States.. After the killing of 94 Policemen in two operations, the Governments had gone slow in their operations against Maoists, whose sole objective is to rule by gun and eliminate all traces of government rule, in the areas controlled by them

According to statistics, Mao­ists reportedly held 75 Jan Adalats or so called people’ courts in 2010 that ordered the exe­cution of 36 civilians. This is in contr­ast, kangaroo courts held, on 141 occasions, in 2003, which delive­red death sentence for 19.Out of a total of 10,268 casualties between 2005 and May, 2010, 2,372 deaths were reported in 2009, 1,769 in 2008 and 1,737 in 2007. These deaths include that of the 76 CRPF personnel at one go in 2010, by the Maoists.

The problem, in tackling the Maoists and Naxalites, is the lack of any clear cut policy, or even a unified command to deal with them. The seeds of the present approach of admitting defeat, or giving in, were laid in 1987, when N T Rama Rao was Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

At that time, the People’s War Group abducted 11 government officials, in­cluding seven IAS officers. The NTR government buckled to the Naxal demand and re­leased top PWG leaders from the central prison.

This policy has been continued by one State after another, because they have neither the resources, nor the support in the form of weaponry or manpower or quite often, not even the will. This problem is not confined only to the States. Even the Central Government, has washed off its hands of the problem, when the Cabinet gave only a limited mandate to Home Ministry, instead of going all out to bring the Naxalites to their knees. In a candid admission, on the need for air-support to tackle the Naxal menace and the Cabinet Committee on Security’s refusal to endorse the use of the same, Union Home Minister said, “I can implement the mandate that is given to me… He added, that the security forces, the chief ministers Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Orissa all asked for air-support”.

Unfortunately for the Government, there is no law, in any statute book, which allows the Government not to enforce any laws, passed by the Parliament. The only law, behind which, the Government of the day can take shelter in bartering the accused for the abducted Government employees, is the unwritten laws of capitulating to the black mail, and giving in to convenience and succumbing to expediency. The Prime Minister has more than once admitted that Maoist problem is the most serious one faced by the Government and the conuntry. In other words, the Government is bowing and accepting the Hindi Proverb, that is Jis Ki Lathi Uski Bhains (Whoever wields the big sick is the owner of the buffalo).

Kidnapping as a weapon of abduction has so far yielded the results desired by the Criminals, irrespective of the name they are known, whether as Maoists or Naxalites. Indeed so emboldened are the Naxalites, that not only they got all their demands conceded from Orissa Government, but also forced the Government to stop all operations against them. In the barter, they have released the kidnapped (kidnapped on 17th February) Collector and a Junior Engineer. The invisible price paid in the form of demoralisation of the Police and Civil Administration, is incalculable. Orissa Government has done, nothing new, except to follow what Government of India has been doing for long time, like releasing the terrorists to get the daughter of the then Union Minister, Mufti released as well as escorting the dreaded Kashmiri terrorists, by a Union Minister, for getting the passengers of hijacked IC 814 released. . It appears that the Government does not have either the will or intention, nor a policy to deal with the problem.

Infact, it would not be wrong to say the Government and its security forces have been put on the defensive and humbled by the Maoists and Naxalites.

The Governments are buying peace at any cost, thus confirming, again and again, that we are a soft state. The benefits of the Government schemes have not reached the tribal areas, because of the vicious circle of corruption and total demoralisation of the administration charged with the duties to improve the lot of the poorest of the poor.

The Centre had also asked the Maoists affected States, in the past, to formulate to a cash for surrender policy, in which a package of 2 Lakhs is given if a Maoists or Naxalite comes forward with arms. The Policy gives each surrendered Naxalite an immediate grant of Rs.1.5 Lakhs, a monthly stipend during training for upto three years . This is apart from a graded incentive of Rs. 15000 onwards to Rs, 25000 for surrendering an AK rifle or an RPG rocket. More than anything else, the Centre and the affected States must work in tandem and Central Government should pick up the entire tab, for this fight, including the manpower, weapons and other infrastructure.

The sole objective of the Maoists and Naxalites, is the same, as of any enemy from outside attacking our country. The main grievance of the Naxalites is the lack of development and that is not possible, if the area is not developed. It will not be developed as long as there is fear, as no contractor will put his neck on the block, nor will the officials do anything against the wishes of the local goons. The Governments should remember, what Mahatma Gandhi once said;

‘All compromise is based on give and take, but there can be no give and take on fundamentals. Any compromise on mere fundamentals is a surrender. For it is, all give and no take’.—(ADNI)

EPILOGUE PRESS
New Delhi: A special court in Ahmedabad on Tuesday death sentence 11 persons to death and awarded life sentence to 20 others convicted in connection with the 2002 Godhra train burning case.

Designated judge PR Patel hearing the case inside the Sabarmati Central Jail had, last week, convicted 31 people of criminal conspiracy in burning of the S6 coach and murder and acquitted 63 others, including the main accused Maulvi Umarji, for the want of concrete evidence in connection with the case.

The prosecution had sought death penalty for all those convicted.

The 2002 Godhra train burning incident left 59 people dead and triggered communal violence in Gujarat that had claimed the lives of over 1200 people.

Kar Sevaks were returning from Ayodhya on board the Sabarmati Express.

Scientific evidence, statement of witnesses, circumstantial and documentary evidence placed on record have formed the basis of the judgement.

The trial conducted inside the Sabarmati Central Jail here began in June 2009 with the framing of charges against 94 accused in the carnage.

Two different panels appointed to inquire into the 2002 case had given different views on the Godhra train burning incident.

The Nanavati Commission, appointed by the Gujarat government to probe the carnage, had in the first part of the report concluded that the fire in the S6 coach was not an accident, but it was caused by throwing petrol inside it.

The burning of the coach S6 was a pre-planned act. In other words there was a conspiracy to burn the coach of the train coming from Ayodhya and to cause harm to the ‘karsevaks’ travelling in it,” the report submitted to the government in September 2008 had said.

The one-man UC Banerjee Commission appointed by the Railway Ministry under Lalu Prasad Yadav had said that fire was “accidental”.