[Reader-list] Alleged Maoist Atrocities
S. Jabbar
sonia.jabbar at gmail.com
Wed May 19 12:54:07 IST 2010
Dear Shuddha,
You've raised the subject of Chittisinghpora-- another among many
contentious incidents in Kashmir, where it was far from certain who the
perpetrators of the killings of 36 Kashmiri Sikhs were. You mention
Clinton's visit and imply that the Indian state was responsible. I wonder
if you would elaborate.
Sincerely
sj
> From: Shuddhabrata Sengupta <shuddha at sarai.net>
> Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 18:21:46 +0530
> To: Pawan Durani <pawan.durani at gmail.com>
> Cc: sarai list <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Alleged Maoist Atrocities
>
> Dear Pawan,
What motives are you talking about? The only ones that I can see
> in
my posting are a clear and categorical criticism and denunciation of
>
the CPI (Maoist)'s cult of death and a clear, unambiguous criticism
with
> the way in which the state is reacting to the situation. Do you
see anything
> else? I don't have to embrace the devil in order to
rescue myself from the
> deep blue sea.
Having said that, I am not blind to the fact that the Indian
> state
(or rogue elements from within the state apparatus) have on occasion
>
resorted to elaborate masquerades to create sensational events that
bind
> popular consensus in favour of a hard-line course of action.
Remember a
> place called Cchattisinghpura? Remember what happened
there just around the
> time when Bill Clinton came visiting? ast I
knew, It was in the province
> that you claim as your homeland. The
questions around Cchatisinghpura still
> remain, and they will not be
covered up merely because the state was able to
> extract a 'custodial
confession' from an alleged 'detained militant'.
What
> happened routinely in Jammu & Kashmir (especially as authored by
the
> notorious 'Ikhwanis', the Kashmiri equivalent of the Salwa Judum)
can easily
> happen elsewhere. This possibility cannot be ruled out,
although it must not
> be seen as the only valid explanation either. We
need neither blind faith in
> the goodness of the Indian state, nor
elaborate conspiracy theories, that
> indict it in every tragedy.
What we need are hard facts. And until the facts
> are crystal clear,
or are made clear through explicit assumptions of
> responsibility by
the Maoists themselves of these massacres,or through their
> implied
assent through silence to the fact that they were indeed the
>
perpetrators, it would be premature to jump to conclusions in any
>
direction. You might have noticed, that despite my aversion towards
>
Hindutva, I have never, ever made capital out of the fact that
certain
> Hindutva activists have been implicated in a series of
terrorist incidents.
> My attitude to any event of this nature, is, we
must not judge a person to
> be guilty until he is comprehensively
proven not to be innocent.
If the
> Maoists remain silent, or own up to their authorship of the
last round of
> violence, (as they did, unhesitatingly, in the case of
the killing of the 76
> CRPF jawans last month) then of course the
recent massacres can be
> unambiguously attributed to them. And this
must be condemned.
If they
> don't, if they say that they had no hand in what has
happened. Then it is a
> different story altogether. It calls for a
different kind of response. Not
> necessarily of endorsing Maoist
politics, but of recognizing that maybe,
> they too might be targets of
slander.
Even in that instance, as I have
> pointed out, with absolute clarity,
the politics of of the Maoists could
> still be held responsible for
creating the climate of violence that enables
> such incidents to
occur. And I have no problem in accusing the Maoists of an
>
irresponsible form of politics. it is just that I have exactly the
same
> attitude towards the Indian state. I will not jump from treetops
saying that
> the state staged a 'false flag' operation. I will not
jump from tree- tops
> saying the Maoists are beasts either. I would
look very carefully into the
> details of a very messy war. I am merely
asking that all of us undertake a
> responsibility to being committed
to this 'carefulness'.
If you saw this
> morning's post on this list by Aman Sethi of a news
story on allegations
> that adivasis were airlifted, abducted and
tortured in the name of
> anti-Naxal operations you would no doubt
realize that we are not operating
> in a situation where there are good
guys and bad guys, what we have on the
> ground are just guys with IEDs
and guys with Helicopters.
I don't hide
> behind a fig leaf of a justification of the Maoists when
I am critical of
> the state, but I see that for many who are
ratcheting up the tempo of
> paranoia in the name of hunting down
anyone who is critical of state action
> as being automatically a
Maoist or at best a Maoist sympathizer, there seems
> to be no problem
at all in hiding behind the obscenity of a war carried out
> by the
state against its own citizenry. I find the double standard of crying
>
yourself hoarse against Maoist sympathizers and remaining silent
about the
> state's mandarins who provide the gloss and the icing over
the state's
> massacres, troubling, to say the least. What compels
respectable people to
> adopt such naked double standards?
I wonder what their motives might be. I'd
> be grateful for any
answers, if they were available.
best,
Shuddha
On
> 18-May-10, at 9:12 AM, Pawan Durani wrote:
> Irony ...... The last para tells
> all the motives........same people
> ....same style.....like the Batla
> house......
>
> On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 9:50 PM, Shuddhabrata Sengupta
>
> <shuddha at sarai.net> wrote:
>> Dear All,
>>
>> While I have on several
> occasions expressed my disgust at the way in
>> which the Government of India
> is conducting it's 'Operation Green
>> Hunt', I have to say that the news of
> the attacks by alleged Maoists
>> in Chattisgarh, in which 6 villagers have
> been killed, and more
>> recently a bus, with several civilians (and some
> special police
>> officers) has been bombed, is deeply disturbing.
>>
>> It
> is a totally different matter from attacking men in uniform, (such
>> as the
> CRPF jawans who were attacked not so long ago, resulting in 76
>> casualties).
> Though I do not support any war, including the Maoist
>> initiated 'Peoples
> War' or for that matter, the Government of India's
>> 'Operation Green Hunt',
> in any war, armed men in uniform in a combat
>> zone are fair targets. The
> death of the 76 CRPF jawans, though
>> regrettable, is not in any way
> different from the death of any
>> guerrila soldiers in the PLGA in any combat
> operation. I refuse to be
>> blackmailed into thinking of such an event as an
> evidence of Maoist
>> 'atrocities'.
>>
>> But by no stretch of imagination can
> the same principles of combat be
>> extended in operations that involve
> unarmed civilians, (such as the
>> incidents that have come to light today) no
> matter who conducts them.
>> Regardless of whether the state or the Maoists
> conduct such
>> operations, they must be condemned by all sensible people in
> the
>> harshest terms. The Maoists, and the state must be compelled,
> through
>> relentless civic pressure, to publicly abide by the Geneva
>>
> Conventions in the matter on the treatment of non-combatants in a
>> conflict
> situation. (And yes, there are conventions that shape the
>> conduct of
> non-state actors, or the conduct of the state in relation
>> to non-state
> actors)
>>
>> The presence of 15 special police officers in the bus that was
> bombed
>> cannot be offered as a justification for the bombing, because a
> large
>> number of people who were harmed in the attack had nothing to do
> with
>> any arm of the state, they were just ordinary passengers. This is a
>>
> simple and disgusting act of terrorism. It cannot be explained away
>> in any
> sense as part of a campaign of liberation.
>>
>> If it is true that these
> attacks have been carried out by the
>> Maoists, then, it is clear that they
> want to ratchet up the general
>> intensity of violence in the regions where
> they have a presence. They
>> want the government to unleash a military style
> offensive, because
>> nothing would serve their purpose better. There can be
> no other
>> explanation for the manner of these attacks. This is a disastrous
> and
>> cynical policy, which will wreck havoc with the lives of the people
>>
> of the area and cannot be justified by any means whatsoever. If the
>>
> government of India responds by increasing the level and intensity of
>> the
> conflict, it will become an accessory of the Maoists design to
>> totally
> militarize the areas of central, southern and eastern India
>> where they
> currently have a presence.
>>
>> If nothing else, this shows how the policy of
> 'Protracted People's
>> War' is bound to degenerate (and in fact is already
> degenerating)
>> into an orgy of random violence, exactly as it did in Peru
> and
>> Colombia, where the 'Sendero Luminoso' ('Shining Path') and 'FARC'
>>
> rebels competed with the state and right-wing militias in a sad
>> spiralling
> descent into armed chaos and brigandage that did nothing
>> to fulfil any
> revolutionary goal. If anything it strengthened the
>> might of the state and
> the right wing militias in Peru and Colombia.
>> The Maoists actions (attacks
> on unarmed civilians) cannot bring about
>> any other results either. The
> ultimate and only beneficiary of this
>> process will be the state and the
> corporations who want total control
>> over the forests of Central
> India.
>>
>> However, we must not rush to conclusions. If the Maoists
> disclaim
>> responsibility for these attacks, then we will have to see whether
> or
>> not such a disclaimer has any objective basis. Independent
>>
> investigations will have to be carrired out. If, by any means, it is
>>
> possible that these attacks are 'false flag' operations, conducted by
>> rogue
> elements of the state machinery, or even endorsed by the state,
>> then the
> responsibility for the violence will lie squarely on the
>> state. It must,
> however, be understood by the Maoists (even if they
>> have not perpetrated
> these massacres) that the style of their
>> politics can and does ennable the
> state to conduct precisely such
>> 'false flag' operations. If there are any
> amongst the leadership of
>> the Maoists who are sensitive to the
> possibilities of forging an
>> alternative radical politics they must begin
> considering the
>> necessity of abandoning the disastrous method of
> 'protracted peoples
>> war' and explore ways to an open, transparent, militant
> and public
>> politics that does not involve the endless cycle of retreats
> and
>> massacres.
>>
>> Wherever the truth may life, this is a very sad day
> indeed,
>>
>> best
>>
>> Shuddha
>>
>>
>> Shuddhabrata Sengupta
>> The Sarai
> Programme at CSDS
>> Raqs Media Collective
>> shuddha at sarai.net
>>
> www.sarai.net
>> www.raqsmediacollective.net
>>
>>
>>
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Shuddhabrata Sengupta
The
> Sarai Programme at CSDS
Raqs Media
> Collective
shuddha at sarai.net
www.sarai.net
www.raqsmediacollective.net
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