Protest Demonstration against Bijapur Massacre
New Delhi, India (July 16, 2012): As per a communiqué sent by Students for Resistance (SFR) a joint demonstration would be held in Delhi, tomorrow to protest against recent massacre of Adivasis of Bijapur, Chhatisgarh by Indian armed forces.
As per information many human rights organization and other collective bodies, including People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR), People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Students For Resistance (SFR), Krantikari Youva Sangathan (KYS), Krantikari Naujawan Sabha (KNS), Inklabhi Mazdoor Kendr (IMK), People’s Front, All India Federation of Trade Unions (AIFTU-New), Redical Notes, Mazdoor Patrika, Sanhati, People’s Democratic Front of India (PDFI), National Confederation of Human Rights Organisations (NCHRO) and Vidyarthi Yuvjan Sabha shall participate in this protest demonstration.
In document sent by SFR, it is maintained that: “recently the Indian state has intensified its eviction and extermination campaign against the adivasis of central and eastern India under the rubric of Operation Green Hunt. On the night of 28 June 2012 when the adivasi peasants of Sarkeguda, Kottaguda and Rajpenta (Bijapur district of south Chhattisgarh) gathered to plan the performance of the traditional festival Beej Pandum (seed festival), they were surrounded by hundreds of Police and Para-military forces of the Indian state. The armed forces resorted to indiscriminate firing killing 17 adivasis (including 6 minors) cold-blooded. Two other villagers were likewise killed near Jagargunda village of Sukma district in the same night, and predictably, were shown as casualties of an ‘encounter’ between the Maoists and the armed forces.”
The document further reads that – “[a]s the testimonies of the eyewitnesses coming through the Media, Fact Finding Reports of different Civil/Democratic Right Teams and the statements of different social-political forces (including the Congress Party of Chhattisgarh) now confirm that the killing of the adivasis was a heinous massacre committed by the Cobra battalion of the CRPF and the Chhattisgarh Police, under the command of top police officials. Even the Union Tribal Minister Mr. K C Deo has said that ‘17 innocent citizens, who were unarmed, who were wearing just a dhoti or a baniyan and who did not even have a sickle or a knife’ had been killed by the CRPF.”
“But still the central Home Minister and the top officials of CRPF are claiming that these adivasis have been killed in a “fierce” gunfight in the dense jungles of Dantewada on June 27-28 in a joint anti-Maoist operation by the CRPF and state police. This is really a matter of grave concern for all the justice loving progressive and democratic forces of our country.
We, the under signed progressive, democratic and civil rights organizations working in Delhi have decided to show our anguish and concern in front of Chhattisgarh Bhavan, Chanakyapuri on 17th July 2012 at 11 AM, in the form of a Protest Demonstration.” it adds.
All the participating organizations have issued an earnest appeal to representatives of other organizations to join the protest.