Friday, October 16, 2009

Appeal to Prevent Military Offensive Against Maoists

Posted by indianvanguard2010 on October 16, 2009

Hyderabad | Oct 16, 2009
Eminent personalities, including noted author Arundhati Roy and senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan, have asked the Centre not to launch a military offensive against naxals citing the damages it may cause to tribals living in the Maoist-affected regions across the country.

“Military operations against Maoists have the potential for triggering a civil war which will inflict widespread misery on the poorest and most vulnerable section of the Indian population (adivasis) and clear the way for plundering of their resources by multi-national companies”, they said in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Signatories to the letter include author and activist Arundhati Roy, Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan, Associate Editor of Economic and Political Weekly Bernard D Mello, CPI (ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattachararya and film maker Anand Patwardhan.

“We are deeply concerned by the Indian government’s plans for launching an unprecedented military offensive by army and paramilitary forces in the adivasi (indigeneous people)-populated regions of Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Orissa and West Bengal states”, they said.

Such a military campaign will endanger the lives and livelihoods of millions of the poorest people living in those areas, resulting in massive displacement, destitution and human rights violations, they said, adding that it will deliver a crippling blow to Indian democracy if the government tries to subjugate its own people militarily without addressing their grievances

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