Tribals clash with cops on Naxal trail
22 Jun 2009, 0247 hrs IST, Sukumar Mahato, TNN
BELPAHARI (W MIDNAPORE): More and more cases of clashes between security forces and tribals — some reportedly sympathisers of Maoists and the rest innocents — are emerging as the battle of Lalgarh enters a crucial phase. On Sunday, when security forces arrested three rebel suspects — Lubu Tudu, Lodhu Singh and Dadan Hansda — they faced a hostile crowd baying for their blood.
Scores of men and women resisted the forces as they caught hold of the three. A woman, Rajari Tudu, led the village folk and attacked the BSF jawans with household knives, injuring a jawan.
The security forces are facing another trouble: at many places shopkeepers simply refuse to give them eatables citing Maoist boycott. On Sunday afternoon, security personnel from three police camps — Banspahari, Neguria, Jamtalgora in this part of Jangalmahal — beat up a shopowner, Gostha Das, in the Chakadoba Market after he refused to sell food articles to the jawans. The locals said Gostha declined them food because of a "police boycott". "The jawans then barged into his shop and started beating him," said Tarani Hansda.
This was not all. Angry jawans raided the huts. Tarachand Soren, panchayat executive of the Banspahari gram panchayat, was pulled by his collar and given a thrashing. Block Development Officer (BDO) Bhaskar Pal had to talk to the additional superintendent of police (operations) M. Murlidharan following which Soren was released.
All these ignited the simmering tension in the neighbouring villages. A large number of women came out of the huts and dared the forces on patrol near Neguria Police Camp. The police, however, claim that while the locals challenged the forces, the Maoists from the forests fired on security personnel. "The shots from fired from the forest, where Maoist run a training camp," said Manoj Verma, superintendent of police of West Midnapore.
Local leader of the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA) Jagannath Singh Sardar, however, rubbished the charge. "It’s an excuse to harass the locals," said Sardar.
He pointed to the plight of the ordinary villagers running for their lives, leaving their elders behind. "This is a malaria-prone zone. Many people are suffering from the fever, but there is no transport to take them to the block health centre, 36 km away. Buses have stopped plying and jeeps demand Rs 400 per patient," Sardar said.
District Congress leader Subrata Bhattacharya defends Sardar. "I don’t subscribe to the police action. Our own party activist Kalpana Kalindi of Bardanga is a victim of police torture," Bhattacharya said.
Tribals clash with cops on Naxal trail - India - The Times of India
'Scared' Lalgarh cops using youths as shields
22 Jun 2009, 0232 hrs IST, Caesar Mandal, TNN
PIRAKATA: The message from Writers' Buildings to show a human face while dealing with the warring populace in Lalgarh apparently hasn't reached the force. Why else would a section of the state armed police (SAP) — terrified of IED explosions - catch hold of local youths and force them to poke around for hidden mines and explosives?
Acts like this will trigger more calls for vengeance and lead people to doubt the sincerity of the government's attempts to pacify the tribal villagers. It also exposes the lack of preparedness of the administration.
There are just two CID bomb disposal experts stationed at Lalgarh. A second team is kept in reserve in Midnapore town to be deployed in case of 'VIP movement'. A third is cooling its heels in Kolkata. There is not a single explosives expert with police forces anywhere else in the war zone.
Ever since Friday evening's blast at Kuldiha, in which the Domkal SDPO's vehicle was hit and three policemen were injured, police have been wary of such attacks. The moment they come across any culvert, many policemen are scared to cross, fearing that Maoists might have planted an IED.
Four blasts and half a dozen gunbattles have been reported ever since forces started their march to Lalgarh. Though no policeman has died, the guerrillas have scored a psychological victory — they have sown the seeds of fear and anxiety. It's this fear that has led some policemen, who are themselves not trained to detect explosives, to force local youth to do the dangerous job for them.
Eighteen-year-old Shambhu Ghosh, Madan Mahato (20) and Shakti Ghosh (23) from Dhangori village were among the unlucky locals. They have been on the run since last Thursday when security forces entered the village searching for Maoists.
On Sunday morning, they were having breakfast at a roadside eatery, close to the Pirakata camp, when a team of policemen surrounded them. One of them asked if they were from Dhangori village.
"When we said yes, they asked us where we had been hiding for the last three days? We didn't give any answer. One of the policeman grabbed us by our collars and threatened to arrest us of we didn't work for them," Shambhu said.
The two were taken to Pirakata camp and given three-foot-long S-shaped rods (possibly taken from a construction site). They're then told to scan for any suspicious object — say, an abandoned bag or a box — lying on the roadside and use the rod to poke around and see if it triggers an explosion.
'Scared' Lalgarh cops using youths as shields - India - The Times of India