INDIA: TWO MORE VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE SUCCUMB TO INJURIES IN ORISSA


NEW DELHI, February 20 (Compass Direct News) – Two Christians have died in refugee camps from injuries sustained in Christmas season violence against Christians in Kandhamal district in Orissa. These deaths push the overall toll to six.

Christian leaders confirmed last month that four Christians died in attacks widely believed to have been led by Hindu nationalist (Hindutva) groups beginning December 24 in the mountainous district of Kandhamal.

“At least two Christians in a relief camp in Barakhama village have recently succumbed to injuries they received during the violence by Hindutva extremists,” said John Dayal, secretary general of the All India Christian Council (AICC). Dayal recently traveled to Kandhamal for the second time since the attacks. His visit left him with troubling questions about government treatment of Christian victims and what he believes is lax law enforcement and lack of concern for the Christians’ well-being.

“Why did these men die in the camp, and not in a hospital in Bhubaneswar [the state capital] or the district capital at Phulbani? No one seems to know,” Dayal told Compass. “Were the bodies examined in a forensic autopsy to find the cause of death? Apparently not. Have people been charged with the murder of these two men? The police and magistracy [senior administrative officials] are not telling.”

Dayal said that Rameshwar Digal, 55, died February 3 in a Barakhama village camp in Baliguda area. Digal was attacked December 26 in Kotasahi village. Law enforcement officials neither registered his case as murder nor performed an autopsy. Kojuna Digal, 65, died January 15. Both were agricultural workers. The men’s surname is shared by those belonging to the Kui tribe. They were not otherwise related.

Police, however, maintain only one person has died in the camp, and they attributed that death to natural causes. Kandhamal police superintendent Nikhil Kumar Kanodia claimed that no injured person has died after the attacks ended January 3. “Only one old man has died in a relief camp,” he said.

The Rev. P.R. Parichha, president of the Orissa chapter of the AICC, confirmed that two Christians had died in the relief camp from their injuries. Parichha said that the toll could rise as a few Christians remained missing. “Most of the missing Christians have returned though,” he added.

Hindutva groups, mainly the extremist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council or VHP), carried out attacks under the pretext of avenging an alleged assault on its leader Laxmananda Saraswati after the first anti-Christian incident was reported from Brahmanigaon village. Alleging that forced conversion was the main cause behind the communal riots in Kandhamal district, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is demanding that activities of foreign funded non-governmental organizations be monitored, The Indian Express newspaper reported February 9. Orissa is ruled by a coalition of a local party, Biju Janata Dal, and the BJP.

The attacks that lasted for more than a week razed at least 730 houses and 95 churches, according to a fact-finding team of the AICC Orissa chapter. Hundreds of displaced Christians remain in relief camps set up by the Orissa government.

Detention of Christian Activist

Meanwhile, on February 20, Baliguda area police detained the state coordinator of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), the Rev. Asit Mohanty, on charges of interfering in the judicial process. GCIC national president Sajan K. George told Compass that police dragged Mohanty more than 500 yards. Police also tried to assault him. George said Mohanty was harassed because he was following up on cases of continued oppression and forced conversion of Dalit Christians at gunpoint by VHP and other radical groups. Mohanty was released three hours later.

“Some lawyers, seemingly belonging to Hindutva groups, had lodged a complaint against Mohanty,” George said.

There have been several reports of forced conversions of Christians to Hinduism in Kandhamal following the violence. (See Compass Direct News, “Hindu Nationalists Plan to Revive Tensions in Orissa State,” January 23.)

Plight of Christian Refugees

Dayal said women, especially pregnant women, are suffering amid dire conditions in the camps that lack even toilets. “They have to suffer the pangs of being a woman in an absolutely undeveloped situation. The women have no gynecological experts available on hand,” he said. When refugees relieve themselves in fields outside the camps, they face hostile Hindu mobs who harass them for coming out of the camp. “The taunts can be dangerous,” Dayal said.

Refugee students are without books and supplies. They are missing exams and school registration that will force them to miss an entire academic year. Older students may miss job opportunities, he said.

Police Bias

Local Christians also complain about police bias. After dark, several villages are without men because they fear being arrested on false charges. “Such is the terror of the police against the Christians that the men just cannot sleep in their own homes. They remain in the forested hills,” Dayal said.

Police superintendent Kanodia, however, said the police are neutral. “A criminal is a criminal. His religious affiliation does not matter to the police,” he said.

Kanodia also said 127 cases related to “communal and ethnic” violence had been registered. He also claimed that the death toll was three and included only one Christian.

Christians do not believe that the Orissa violence was merely due to ethnic tensions. Christians make up approximately 16 percent of the 650,000 people in Kandhamal district. More than 60 percent of the Christians belong to the Pana community. They are classified as “scheduled castes,” or Dalits. They demand recognition as a tribal community, claiming they too speak the local language of Kui. But Kui tribal peoples oppose their recognition as it would add to the number of candidates for jobs reserved for them through the government’s affirmative action program.

According to the Indian Constitution, only Hindu Dalits can benefit from affirmative action in government jobs and education. A Dalit loses such privileges after converting to Christianity.

The National Commission for Minorities, which sent two researchers to Kandhamal district, reported on January 17 that the violence was “organized and preplanned.”

“The team maintained that the large-scale violence was because of the inaction of the administration,” reported the New Indian Express newspaper. In January, Dayal led a fact-finding team that also concluded the violence was carried out in a planned manner. (See Compass Direct News, “Fact-Finding Mission Suggests India Violence Was Preplanned,” January 4.)

Arunachal Das, the assistant district magistrate of Kandhamal, told Compass that 3,091 victims, both Christian and Hindu, live in five relief camps: two in Baliguda and three in the Daringbadi area. Attacks on Hindus’ houses were also reported during the Kandhamal violence.

According to an order of the district magistrate, only the state government can distribute relief through the Red Cross. Other non-profit organizations and churches are not allowed to bring aid.

The week-long spate of violence in Orissa began in Kandhamal on December 24. Special armed forces remain deployed in affected areas.

The Times of India newspaper reported on January 22 that the 700 members of the Central Reserve Police Force initially deployed would remain in Kandhamal until March 15.

END

Maoist inside jungles of Raikia, Kotagarh - Kandhamal Dist

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Forest Rights Act for landless tribals: CM

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Wednesday February 20 2008 09:34 IST

Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: The State Government has issued instructions for the implementation of provisions of the Scheduled Tribes and other traditional Forest-Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, to address the problems of landless tribal families.

To a question from Tara Prasad Bahinipati (Cong) on the Kandhamal riots, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said in the Assembly that a number of initiatives had been taken by the Government to improve the socio-economic condition of tribal communities.

During 2007-08, the State Government opened 54 ST girls’ hostels in Kandhamal and seven residential ST girls’ high schools are proposed to be opened during 2008-09. The capacity of the DIET at Tikabali is being doubled in order to enable the boys and girls of Kandhamal district to become trained teachers.

Stating that special measures are being taken to promote cultivation of organic spices in the district, Naveen said a special grant of Rs 10 crore had been sanctioned to improve the infrastructure.

So far, 173 persons have been arrested for their involvement in the riots in the district. These persons are involved in 53 cases. However, 127 cases have been registered in connection with the riots. The cases are under investigation, he said.

Maoist at Kandhamal

Maoists killed in India fighting

Bodies of policemen killed in a Maoist attack in Orissa
Several hundred rebels were involved in the attack on policemen
Authorities in the eastern Indian state of Orissa say at least 20 Maoists have been killed in heavy fighting with security forces in the state.

Three security personnel were also killed in the clashes, officials say.

The fighting comes days after 13 policemen were killed when 500 Maoist rebels attacked a police compound in the state's Nayagarh district.

The rebels stole a huge amount of weapons and ammunition from the site's armoury during Friday night's attack.

Orissa police chief Gopal C Nanda said 115 rifles, a carbine and half a truckload of ammunition stolen by the rebels have been recovered from a forest in neighbouring Kandhamal district.

'Biggest threat'

The police said heavy fighting between the rebels and security forces was going on around the Gosamal hills in Kandhamal district.

Around 600 federal paramilitary forces along with 100 men belonging to an special anti-Maoist force and armed police have surrounded the forests where the rebels are believed to be hiding, officials say.

Indian Air Force helicopters are also flying over the area to track down the rebels.

The Maoists are active in many states across east and central India. They focus on areas where people are poor but there is great mineral wealth.

The rebels say they represent the rights of landless farmhands and tribal communities. Hundreds of people have died over the past few years in Maoist-related violence.

The Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, recently described the rebels as the biggest threat to the country's security and called for a dedicated security force to combat them.

20 Maoists gunned down

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BHUBANESWAR: The Orissa government continued its anti-naxal operation for the second day on Sunday and the authorities claimed that about 20 Maoists were killed in the exercise. Three policemen were also killed in the operation.

The operation started on Saturday after hundreds of Maoists raided the police establishments in Nayagarh district, killing 15 persons, including 13 policemen, and decamping with huge quantities of arms and ammunition on Friday night.

Home Secretary Tarun Kanti Mishra told presspersons here that they had gathered unconfirmed information that 20 Maoists were killed in the operation.

The three policemen killed in the heavy exchange of fire between the two sides on Saturday evening include an Assistant Commandant of the Special Operation Group of the State Police and two jawans of the Orissa State Armed Police.

Police hopeful

The intensive combing operations in Nayagarh, Ganjam, Kandhamal and Gajapati districts would continue and the police were hopeful of achieving a big success, Mr. Mishra said.

Director-General of Police Gopal Chandra Nanda said the extremists behind the Nayagarh incidents were moving in forest areas in groups and the police were chasing them in a similar way.

The main exercise was on in the forests in Ganjam and Kandhamal districts, he said.

Two Air Force helicopters were being used to track down the Maoists and the security personnel were moving from place to place as per the information provided through aerial surveillance by the helicopters.

Though the number of policemen deployed in the operation had not been made public, police sources said around 500 personnel, including a large number of Central Reserve Police Force men, three units of Greyhound force from Andhra Pradesh and men from different wings of the State police were involved.

A Central team, including Special Secretary (Internal Security) in the Home Ministry M.L. Kumawat, visited Nayagarh to take stock of the situation.

Central support

The Union government would give all support to the State government to deal with the situation, he said.

A delegation of political leaders, led by Leader of the Opposition J.B. Patnaik, also visited Nayagarh.

The team blamed the government for the poor security at the arms depots that were attacked.