How the Salwa Judum experiment went wrong: Live Mint
Krishnamurthy Ramasubbu
Live Mint, Wall street Journal
Conflict between the militia and Naxalites in the past 3 years has displaced thousands of tribals in Chhattisgarh
Dantewada, Chhattisgarh: It took five days for Gantala Baby and people from the 60 families in her small village in mineral-rich southern Chhattisgarh to cross the Dandakaranya forests and arrive at their destination, Khammam in Andhra Pradesh. Several people died during the 260km trek through unfriendly terrain, and Baby’s son Aadavi Ramudu was born en route.
That was in 2006. Baby, now all of 18, is still struggling to make ends meet at Charla in Khammam. She is among at least 150,000 tribals who have been forced to leave home in Chhattisgarh. Some have moved to Andhra Pradesh. Others live in camps run by the Salwa Judum, a state-backed militia formed around three years ago to fight Maoists (or Naxalites) in the region.
After criticism from several entities, including human rights organizations and India’s top court, the Chhattisgarh government, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) one, is disbanding Salwa Judum, which is translated as peace force by some people and cleansing water by others.
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Salwa judum in Manipur: Eyes Wide Open
CURRENT AFFAIRS
From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 28, Dated July 19, 2008
TERESA REHMAN
Guwahati
Two Manipuri villages rethink on their decision to have their own Salva Judum after a visit to Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district
THE METHODS and premises of the Salva Judum — Chhattisgarh’s controversial civilian mobilisation against the state’s Naxals — remain bitterly contested, but analysing the pros and cons of the strategy represents far more than mere academic interest in insurgency-riddled Manipur. After a series of militant attacks, two villages here — Heirok in Thoubal district and Chajing Konjeng Leikai in Imphal West district — decided this year to ask the government for permission to bear arms against the ultras. With the Union Home Ministry granting consent, the state government decided to create 500 Special Police Officer (SPO) posts from the two villages, 300 from Heirok and 200 from Chajing.
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Tribal houses burnt by salwa judum members
By Sonal Kellogg
Howra News
New Delhi
July 5: An independent fact-finding team of people’s groups which visited Lendra village of Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh on June 26 at the invitation of the Campaign for Peace and Justice found that 11 houses belonging to the adivasis had been completely burnt down and razed to the ground by salwa judum members.
Salwa judum, a campaign sponsored and supported by the Chhattisgarh government, allegedly handed out brutal reprisals for depositions by members of this village before the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). All their belongings were burnt down with the houses.
The NHRC was visiting Dantewada in June in connection with the Supreme Court’s orders in the salwa judum case of April 15, where the court asked the commission to investigate charges of human rights violations by salwa judum and report within eight weeks.
As per the resident tribals of Lendra, a group of more than 100 persons from the salwa judum camp at Erabor entered the village at around 8.30 am on June 15. The group was armed and some of them were in uniform. On seeing the advancing group, the tribals fled. However, two persons who could not flee were caught and beaten up. The attacking group then proceeded to burn down 11 houses in the hamlet.
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Justice travestied
by Sandeep Pandey
(The Statesman, July 8, 2008)
I first met Dr Binayak Sen, his wife Ilina and their two daughters, Aparajita and Pranhita, at the conclusion of the ‘Pokhran to Sarnath Global Peace March’ on 6 August 1999 at the Central Tibetan Institute of Higher Learning in Sarnath, near Varanasi. Sarnath is where Buddha delivered a sermon to his first five disciples after attaining enlightenment at Bodh Gaya. The peace march was symbolically between a place of destruction ~ Pokhran ~ and a place of peace ~ Sarnath. It began exactly a year after the day India tested nuclear weapons in 1998 and concluded on Hiroshima Day. The objective of the march was to push for total global nuclear disarmament.
While the march was in progress for 88 days and over 1,500 km, the Sens were busy organising activities in Raipur, now in Chhattisgarh, and their work area in its support. We also later got a chance to work together for the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace, a national platform.
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Letter to NHRC from International organizations
The Honorable Rajendra Babu, Chairperson
National Human Rights Commission
Faridkot House, Copernicus Marg
New Delhi – 110 001
Subject: Salwa Judum Inquiry Commission
Dear Justice Babu,
We are a diverse group of organizations who had written to you earlier, on May 13, 2008, observing one year of the unjust detention of Dr. Binayak Sen. In that letter, we had highlighted the harassment of various human rights activists in India under draconian laws such as Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CSPSA) and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and also stated our opposition to Salwa Judum, the militia movement armed by the Chhattisgarh Government, that has resulted in massive human rights violations in the Southern districts of Chhattisgarh, created an atmosphere of violence and distrust, and led to the displacement of thousands of tribals.
We have since learned that the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has been directed by the Honorable Supreme Court, in its order dated April 15, 2008, to conduct an inquiry into allegations of atrocities committed by Salwa Judum. This is certainly an encouraging sign and we hope that an independent and impartial report from the NHRC will compel the Central Government and the State Government of Chhattisgarh to act quickly to deter the widespread violation of human rights in the region.
We take this occasion to highlight the work of other independent organizations investigating Salwa Judum. Although these organizations are independent of each other, there is a remarkable consensus in their evaluation of Salwa Judum. Their reports are a searing indictment of this vigilante army started and nurtured by the state to wage war against its own people. For instance, according to the April 2006 document ‘Where the State Makes War on its Own People’ by PUCL
On the basis of the fact-finding, three facts stood out strongly, all of which ran counter to the government’s assertions: First, it is clear that the Salwa Judum is not a spontaneous people’s movement, but a state-organized anti-insurgency campaign. Second, it is misleading to describe the situation as simply one where ordinary villagers are caught between the Maoists and the military. The Maoists have widespread support and as long as people continued to live in villages, it was difficult for the government to isolate the Maoists…Third, the entire operation, instead of being a ‘peace mission’ as it is claimed, has escalated violence on all sides. However, only the murders by Maoists are recognized, and the Salwa Judum and paramilitary operate with complete impunity.
The report ‘War in the heart of India’ by Independent Citizens’ Initiative finds that:
The Salwa Judum has been responsible for a huge amount of violence in the district, which includes killing civilians, burning and looting their houses, and raping women. Rather than stopping Maoist violence, it has actually led to an increase in retaliatory killings by Naxalites.
And yet again, in a report entitled ‘Death, Displacement, and Deprivation: The war in Dantewada’, the Human Rights Forum observes:
That the Salwa Judum is not a popular upsurge against the Maoists but an instrument of the establishment is the one fact about which there has never been any doubt. Not only civil rights organisations and the leftist publications but the mainstream Press too has said so, in report after report. And there is also little doubt that it is an abominable instrument of suppressive politics.
‘The Adivasis of Chhattisgarh: Victims of the Naxalite Movement and Salwa Judum Campaign‘, a March 2006 report from the Asian Center for Human Rights (ACHR), spares neither the Naxalite movement nor Salwa Judum from its critical eye. The ACHR report notes that:
Salwa Judum is far from a “peace campaign” with some of its cadres being given full military trainings as Special Police Officers. It has become a state sponsored violent counter-insurgency programme.
The same report also calls upon the Indian Judiciary to look into the framing of laws such as the CSPSA which contravene several fundamental requirements for fairness. Finding the CSPSA vague and arbitrary in many instances, the ACHR report reminds us that:
International jurisprudence uniformly emphasises the importance of the cardinal principle of criminal justice system - nullum crimen, nulla poena sine lege138 - i.e. criminal conduct must be defined in law before an offense can be committed, and with sufficient precision so as to prevent arbitrary enforcement (P.68).”
Many other reports make the point that Salwa Judum is not a ’spontaneous’ and ’self-initiated’ reaction to ‘Maoist oppression,’ but rather a state-organized anti-insurgency campaign that has increased violence on all sides and has resulted in the displacement of thousands of tribals.
We also take this occasion to highlight the concerns of Manish Kunjam, the national president of All India Adivasi Association, and one of the petitioners of the Salwa Judum PIL submitted before the Supreme Court of India. In his letter dated May 22, 2008, addressed to the Inquiry Commission at NHRC, he expressed certain concerns regarding the investigation. In particular he noted that:
- some of the translators used by the NHRC have close connections to Salwa Judum, and hence, it is likely, that the NHRC commission was not been apprised of the real facts.
- the presence of Salwa Judum leaders and Special Police Officers when the NHRC Commission was conducting its inquiry might have led to suppression of facts by villagers who feel intimidated by them (Salwa Judum leaders and SPOs).
- soon after the NHRC team left the village of Chintalnar, the Salwa Judum leaders issued death threats to people who had testified against Salwa Judum.
Recent news reports in the Hindustan Times and the Times of India corroborate Mr Kunjam’s fears that the NHRC investigation may have been conducted in an environment that was saturated with fear and intimidation, hence fatally compromising it. According to the HT report:
The 2000-odd inhabitants of Chintalnar village in Dantewada district have allegedly been threatened by the civil militia, Salwa Judum, after they spoke candidly to a visiting National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) team about their struggle to live.
The TOI report quotes activists alleging that the NHRC investigation “panel is flouting all procedures and relying more on Salwa Judum activists and special police officers … and the composition of the investigation team does not have anyone from the NGOs who are associated with the NHRC.”
We request you to take these concerns into consideration while preparing your report, and echoing Mr. Kunjam’s recommendations in his letter, we request you to rely only on the translation services of people who are completely independent, or members of well-known and competent NGOs, to interview the concerned villagers. These interviews must be conducted without Special Police Officers and Salwa Judum leaders being present, and security must be provided to villagers who testify in front of you. We further request that your inquiries be conducted outside of these camps so that people can freely speak their minds without fear of Salwa Judum.
We write this is as concerned individuals from around the globe, many of us citizens of India, who wish to see the highest standards of democratic principles apply to protect all individuals, especially those whose basic human, civil and economic rights are regularly violated. We hope that as the body with the express charge of monitoring and countering human rights violations around the country, the NHRC will not fail the people of India and their well-wishers.
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