Train CRPF properly to fight naxals: Gadkari

Jhinjholi, Haryana, Jul 10 (UNI) Security forces are not able to curb naxalism because of improper training, BJP president Nitin Gadkari has said.

''If our security forces are given good and proper training, then they will be able to handle naxals and maoists better and control the situation,'' Mr Gadkari said.

He was speaking while addressing the gathering here last evening during the party's ongoing training programme, 'Pravesh Prashikshan Varg', for its party workers.

Mr Gadkari added that if soldiers would be trained then only war could be won. Citing an example of how important training is, he said, ''Only a Black Cat Commando can sit in a car running at 30 km/hr but not a policeman. This is because the latter is not trained for it.''

The BJP president did not miss the chance to attack UPA government and reiterated that the Centre has been a total failure in anti-Naxal offensive. He even claimed that the BJP can eradicate the problem altogether if it comes to power.

With the continous naxal menace, it has been realised that the securtiy forces have not been able to control the situation as they are not trained in gorilla warfare as required. Last Wednesday, armed Maoists attacked the police station and forest beat house at Daitari in Keonjhar district of Andhra Pradesh and set both establishments on fire.

They later abducted the ASI and left posters warning that more such attacks would occur in the near future to avenge the killing of Cherikuri Rajkumar alias Azad by Andhra Pradesh police.

No question of apology for remarks on Afzal Guru: Gadkari

Jhinjholi, Haryana, Jul 9 (UNI) Refusing to apologise for his comment on Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, BJP national president Nitin Gadkari today said the people who kept his files closed for more than 4 years should instead apologise to the families of the martyrs who lost their lives in the attack on December 13, 2001.

''Why should I apologise for the remarks? There is no question of my apology,'' Mr Gadkari said while reacting to the demand of the Congress that he should apologise for calling Afzal Guru, who has not been hanged even after six years of being awarded death sentence by the court, as the ''damaad'' (son-in-law) of the
Congress.

''I thank the media that it highlighted my statement. Because of you truth on the issue has come in front of the public, '' he told mediapersons here at the launch of the BJP's training programme to energise the youth for the struggle against ''wrong
policies of the Congress''.

During a public meeting at Dehradun yesterday, Mr Gadkari had asked the Congress why it was seeking to protect the convict in the Parliament attack like a ''son-in-law''.

Activists raise voice to free Pasha, protect their rights

New Delhi, Jun 23 (UNI) Calling the arrest of Abdul Shakeel Pasha, a senior operative of Maoists, a conspiracy, various civil society groups today alleged that government is on a witch-hunt for rights' activists in the name of anti-Maoist operations.

''Under the garb of anti-Naxal and anti-Maoists operations, the Central and state governments have declared a semi-emergency,'' social activist Shabnam Hashmi said.

She said the time has come when if a person raises voice against the Central authorities, ''he is claimed a Naxal or a Maoist.''

On one hand they talked of initiating peace talks with the rebels, while on the other they arrested such great activist on the basis of their past, she noted. ''Is it a crime to have ideology? It is our constitutional right to raise voice against whatever we feel is wrong or unacceptable,'' Ms Hashmi said.

She alleged that the government had held innocent Muslim men for either belonging to terrorist groups or being one and the same was being done with the Rights' activists and civil society groups. Pasha, accused of recruiting youth from south Gujarat and
Ahmedabad for the organisation, was arrested by police on June 18 and brought to Surat on a transfer warrant the next day. There he was produced before a local court at Kathor village, which remanded him to police custody for seven days.

He was closely associated with People's War Group (PWG) and has worked in Gujarat. Before him, the police had arrested 13 other accused for their alleged involvement in anti-Naxal movement in Gujarat. They include Niranjan Mohapatra, K N Singh, Maka Chaudhary, Avinash Kulkarni, Ramu Puwar, Bharat Puwar, Sulat Puwar, Jayram Goswami,
Satyam Rao, Vishwanath Iyer, Surya Dewra Prabhakar and Venkataiya Kuttupatti.

Tanveer Afaque, another activist who has closely worked with Pasha for many years, termed the act of arresting these people incarceration of trade unionists, forest right activists and ordinary workers. ''They had demanded that the Constitutional Rights of the people be restored. Is a new, but unannounced, emergency creeping
silently across the nation?'' he asked.

The members demanded that the authorities stop playing an unfair game against the activists. ''Pasha should be given a fair trial and released on bail too,'' Mr Afaque said.

The civil society groups present in the forum included Haq, Anhad, Aman Biradari, Peace, Insaf, Delhi Solidarity Group, National Alliance of People's Movements, National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers, Hazard Centre, South Asia forum for Human Rights, Human Rights Law Network, New Trade Union Initiative, Shahri Adhikar Manch, People's Union for Civil Liberties, among others.

Insurgency reduced in Assam; Gogoi quotes figures

New Delhi, Jun 17 (UNI) Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today claimed that insurgency in the state has reduced to a great extent and expressed hope that the decision taken to initiate talks with Ulfa and other insurgency groups will be fruitful.

''Due to development that has taken place in the state, insurgency has reduced vastly. This is because the progress has helped in abating the support bases of the insurgents,'' Mr Gogoi told mediapersons.

Quoting figures, the Chief Minister stated that incidents of extremist-related violence in the state have reduced from 584 in 2009 to 137 till June 15 this year.

''The number of civilians and security force officers killed has also come down from 255 in 2009 to 25 till Tuesday,'' he said.

Detailing about encounters happened in the state, he said they have lessened from 187 in 2009 to 59 till Tuesday while number of extremists killed have reduced from 209 last year to 68 till June 15.

In regards to recoveries made, he said last year, arms and ammunition recovered were above a thousand but this year till now it has been around 200.

Speaking about the talks to be held with the insurgent groups, Mr Gogoi said it was a very good sign that most of them have shown keen interest in holding negotiations with the government.

However, he reiterated that they would not wait for Paresh Barua, Ulfa's commander-in-chief, to start the process. ''We will not wait for Paresh Barua for an indefinite period. If he wants to come, he is invited else we will surely go ahead with the talks,'' Mr Gogoi added.

The decision by the Centre was taken after Mr Gogoi met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on June 15 and Union Home Minister P Chidambaram yesterday.

NHRC chief Balakrishnan favours development to end naxalism

New Delhi, Jun 7 (UNI) New chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) K G Balakrishnan today underlined lack of development as the major reason behind naxalism.

Terming naxalism a ''very complex problem'' both for the common man and security forces, the former Chief Justice of India said people in naxal-infested areas have been living with inadequate infrastructure.

''There are no hospitals, no roads, along with many other things in these areas. Naxalism is a very complex problem for all including the common man, tribals as well as police and security agencies,'' Mr Balakrishnan told mediapersons here.

The NHRC chief also sympathised with the security forces that are martyred while fighting extremists.

Reportedly, he had recently agreed to the fact that all the naxal-affected and militancy-affected states of the north-east were the human rights hotspots and use of force alone could not bring in an all time solution to these problematic areas.

Mr Balakrishnan today formally took charge as the sixth chairperson of the NHRC.

Maoists' main target is Delhi, not Dantewada: Raman Singh

New Delhi, May 20 (UNI) Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh today said the main target of Maoists was not Dantewada but Delhi and so joint efforts were needed to fight the menace.

''The aim of the Maoists and Naxals is not Dantewada. They want to take over the country's economy and democracy by targetting the Centre,'' he said.

Dr Singh was speaking during a panel discussion on ''Maoists and Naxalism: Challenges and Solutions'', organised by Forum for Integrated National Security (FINS) here.

Giving out facts, the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister said it was very much visible that the Maoists, who were not less than terrorists, had been focusing on mostly those places or states in the country which were rich in resources.

''States full of mines of iron-ore, bauxite, coal, oil, among other resources, have always remained their main target. This proves that they want to conquer the country's economy,'' he said.

Giving a clarion call to the nation, Dr Singh said since it was the problem of the whole country, every citizen would have to stand together and fight the menace.

''At this stage, we will have to keep aside politics and stop thinking whether the thought-process of two bureaucrats matches,'' he said.

In reply to a question, if the state was planning to bring about any change in its strategy to fight Maoism, he said, ''Strategies are ought to change with time.''

Dr Singh also referred to certain issues regarding Maoism and called them ''myths''.

''I will like to clarify three myths that people in Delhi have been talking about. Firstly, Chhattisgarh government is not using any trading operation to bring in Multi-National Companies in Bastar. We have only been carrying out value addition works,'' he said.

''Secondly, it is a misconception that Naxalism is an outcome of social, cultural and economic differences only. There is no Zamindar, no rich, no poor, no particular caste in Bastar. In fact, the male to female ratio in the state is second best in the
country,'' he added.

The third issue raised by the Chief Minister was of development. ''Everybody says that Naxals and Maoists have been doing this in demand for their development. It is not whole truth. To cite an example, to construct a 22-km-road in 20 days, altogether 12 policemen had to lose their lives because the localities did not
want development,'' he said.

However, Dr Singh asserted that 98 per cent of the state's people want peace and non-violence and the state government has been taking all possible steps to curb the menace.

He noted that one of the biggest problem in the state was of less force. ''In addition, the country's force is not at all prepared for Guerrilla warfare either mentally or physically,'' he said.

In this regard, Dr Singh said the need was that every Indian state should have an institute or a training centre wherein the country's force could be trained for guerrilla warfare.

Before the discussion, a two-minute-silence was also observed remembering those who lost their lives in the recent Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh wherein Maoist guerrillas triggered a powerful landmine under a bus killing 31 people, many of them
civilians.

VHP welcomes Kasab's death sentence, demands immediate execution

New Delhi, May 6 (UNI) The Vishwa Hindu Parishad today welcomed the verdict of death punishment given to lone captured Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab and demanded that he should be hanged to death immediately.

''Kasab should not be given any further opportunity to appeal or mercy and must be hanged immediately. Otherwise Kasab's bosses in Pakistan may even manipulate the vote bank politics in India and even try to hold the country at ransom once again,'' VHP Secretary General Pravin Togadia said.

He noted since Pakistan's hand in terrorist attacks in India has been fully exposed, ''Indian Government should immediately cut all diplomatic and business ties with Pakistan.''

Dr Togadia further pointed out that the court has also pronounced Pakistani Hafeez Sayeed, Lakhvi and other 18 Pakistani terrorists guilty. ''Therefore, the government should do everything possible to bring them here and get them hanged.''

Convicted for waging war against India and killing 166 innocent people in the November 26, 2008 terrorist attack on the financial hub of the country, Kasab was today sentenced to death by a designated court in Mumbai.

Rejecting the defence plea for a lesser punishment, the designated court Judge M L Tahaliyani said the crime was one of the rarest of the rare and ordered that the Pakistani terrorist should be hanged to death.