New Delhi, May 18: Days after Sonia’s peace push Maoists blow up bus near Dantewada killing over 31 including 13 special police officers
FOUR DAYS after Congress president Sonia Gandhi said that an integrated development- oriented approach is needed to tackle the Maoist problem, Naxals blew up a bus in Sukma in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district, killing at least 31 people on board.
A top state police official said that bodies of 13 special police officers ( SPOs) and the state police’s Koya Battalion jawans and 18 civilians were recovered from the spot. He said several bodies may have been removed by relatives even before the rescue team could arrive. “ The rescue team arrived late fearing Maoist booby traps,” the official said.
“ The toll could go up considering there are more bodies inside the mangled remains of the bus and several of the injured are in a critical condition.” Government sources said this was the first big Maoist attack on civilians and that they were shocked at its scale and precision considering it was only last week that the Congress had sent conciliatory messages of peace and development.
Sonia’s article in the party mouthpiece Sandesh last week was expected to be a call for the government to change tack from its militarist line when it came to dealing with Naxals.
“ The rise of Naxalism is a reflection of the need for our development initiatives to reach the grassroots, especially in our most backward tribal districts,” she wrote. “ This is why our government is putting in place more targeted development schemes for our most backward districts.” Manmohan Singh had said though left- wing extremism poses the gravest internal security threat to the nation, it could be fought with coordinated action in the backward areas so that fruits of development can reach the underprivileged.
“ We can’t overlook that many areas in which such extremism flourishes are underdeveloped and many people, mainly poor tribals, who live in these areas, have not shared equitably in the fruits of development,” he said at a recent meeting of civil servants in the Capital. “ It is incumbent upon us to ensure that no area of our country is denied the benefits of our ambitious developmental programmes.” But these messages don’t seem to have reached the on- ground Naxals who, just six weeks after the April 6 massacre of 75 CRPF jawans just 60 km from Monday’s blast spot, executed their first big attack on civilians.
On Monday, a private operator’s bus carrying 55 passengers, including 25 tribal special police officers ( SPOs) and jawans of the police’s Koya Battalion, was heading towards Sukma from Dantewada when a landmine along the road was triggered by waiting Maoists. The impact of the blast was so massive that the bus ended up a mangled heap with some bodies trapped inside.
A senior state police officer said the SPOs may have invited the Maoists’ attention by climbing on to the roof of the bus. “ It was the worst that the uniformed policemen could have done in such restive areas,” the official said in Raipur. But state home minister Nanki Ram Kanwar said it was not the fault of the forces. “ If Maoists keep targeting civilians like they did in Rajnandgaon on Sunday killing six villagers, what could the forces do if they target a civilian bus,” he said.
Union home secretary G. K. Pillai was livid: “ Naxals have killed unarmed and innocent civilians and this shows they have wanton disregard for human life. Most of the people killed are innocent civilians. In the last two days, they killed a village head and five others because they were thought to be police informers.” He added: “ Nobody gives the Maoists a licence to kill. Killing of innocents doesn’t make them less than a murderer. No NGO or human rights activist has condemned their violent acts.” Ironically, earlier on Monday, a group of concerned citizens, including the over- the- ground sympathisers of Maoists such as G. N Saibaba, assistant professor at Delhi University, issued a public statement welcoming Sonia’s admission that extreme neglect of the tribal areas was at the root of the crisis in those regions.
“ We hope this appreciation of the need to go deeper into the question would lead to initiatives for immediate cessation of hostilities and dialogue so that the process of people- oriented development is made feasible,” he said.
But the government could possibly decide on its stand soon.
Late on Monday, though, sources said the Prime Minister’s Office ( PMO) was moving quickly to convene an emergency meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security and would be inviting the Chhattisgarh chief minister to carve out an effective strategy to tackle the Maoists.
Sources said the home ministry would push for “ an enhanced mandate” against Naxalites at this meeting. “ The Maoists have become dastardly in their murderous tactics,” sources said.
“ First, it was just security personnel, but now it is innocent civilians that are being murdered.” ’
—Agencies