http://internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article4749
Condemn the mass killing of Maoists
Monday 31 October 2016, by Radical Socialist
Radical Socialist condemns the mass killing of at least 24 Maoists or
alleged Maoists, in what the police are calling an encounter, in the
Odisha side of the Andhra – Odisha border area. From the reports issued
by the police, it is evident that they had surrounded a meeting of the
Maoists, at best.
We say at best, because it is well known, and has been revealed latest
in the case of the killing of Madkam Hidme, [1] that adivasis [2] are
killed at random to make up tales of police-military heroism, dressed in
so called Maoist uniforms, etc. So without independent evidence one
cannot take the words of the police as the truth. As the identification
of bodies takes place, it has been alleged by activists, such as Varvara
Rao, that some at least among those killed were villagers who had kept
in touch with the Maoists rather than being Maoist cadres themselves.
In the first place, even if everyone had been a Maoist, there is a need
to know exactly what the Andhra police was doing, with arms, in Odisha.
If the Maoists were holding a meeting, and if there was a need to
apprehend them, why not only the Odisha police.
The use of Greyhounds, trained to attack and kill, suggests that the
operation was planned as a killing operation from the outset. Varvara
Rao’s description of it as a fake encounter is therefore apt.
We stand by what we have said in the past. If the Indian state claims to
be a democratic state, it has to use normal laws, and compel its police
forces to follow regulations and procedures. The use of special forces,
whether the Greyhounds in Andhra and Telangana, or other types including
in Jammu and Kashmir and North East India, flouts the democratic rights
of the people of India. India’s people need protection far more from the
state than from real or spurious terrorists.
• Abolish all so-called anti-terrorist laws that are deliberately worded
in a vague and broad manner so that they can be and are used to
terrorise ordinary people.
• Abolish “special” police forces trained to kill and count score for
bonus. We need law, not bounty hunters.
27 October, 2016
Footnotes
[1] Madkam Hidme was killed after being raped in another fake encounter
in June 2016; http://www.eyeartcollective.com/the....
[2] adivasis is the term for indigenous peoples of South Asia
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Radical Socialist
A radical left organisation in India, and Permanent Observer of the
Fourth International.
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