The most powerful Maoist attack in recent years reveals a civilian tragedy

New Delhi, 16 March 2007. - The Maoist attack that left 55 policemen in a police station of Dantewada district in the Indian region of Chatisgarh (center) has shown the power of the guerrillas, but especially the bleak situation a civilian population caught in the crossfire.
The attack came at dawn on Thursday when about 500 Naxalites (Maoists) attacked with grenades and Molotov cocktails at a position in which 80 security personnel were sleeping in an area of difficult access in the "Red Corridor", some 100,000 square kilometers in part controlled by the guerrillas.
Although the origins of the Naxalites, who took their name from a revolt of 1967 in the village of Naxalbari Bengali, appear linked to the university, later, his message became popular in rural and impoverished areas, where they often launch small attacks hidden in areas forest.
But the power of the Maoists not only their good organization, but also in its attraction for young people in the poorest regions of the country, who, frustrated by the lack of jobs and opportunities are encouraged to join the ranks of the guerrillas.
Concerned about the rise of the rebels, the government had contributed in 2005 to establishment of a movement Chatisgarh anti-Maoist called "Campaign for Peace" (Salwa Judum), which enrolled about 50,000 villagers.
And indeed, most -39 - of the 55 dead officers belong to the "special police" (SPO, acronym in English), actually a body formed by villagers who work for the security forces with a rifle, a pay monthly equivalent of 25 euros or 33 dollars and a uniform of a sticker with handwritten initials.
"The Maoists are not stronger than before, what happens is that they defend the fence to submit them, which is increasingly tight," he told Efe from Dantewada spokesman of the police force, M. Mishra.
With this background, the impoverished youth of Dantewada district, mostly "adivasis" (tribals), just have three options for the future: take to the mountains with the guerrillas, working with counterinsurgency forces organized by the government or try to survive in the crossfire from both sides.
In Dantewada no one is free from danger, as the Maoist attack those involved in activities and meetings of the "Campaign for Peace" while those who refuse to do so are attacked by paramilitary forces, Amnesty International reported Efe.
"We are concerned about the safety of" adivasis ", normal people in the conflict. We ask the Government to investigate the murders committed by paramilitary and security review its laws. And the Maoists should know that violence solves nothing, "he told Efe Soumya Bhaumik, delegate of the organization.
Last year alone, the flight was the only way for more than 100,000 civilians of the "Red Corridor", resistant to pressure from both sides.
But even in the most hopeless shining lights, a Deputy Director of Police Abhyanand, the poorest region of India, Bihar, has appealed to the imagination with an initiative that can break the spiral of violence that has left hundreds of thousands of displaced and thousands dead in recent decades.
His idea is to launch a tourism circuit in the areas dominated by the Maoists, to create "job opportunities and development" and "get something positive out of a bad deed."
"If the fans and supporters of the guerrilla unemployed prove the sweetness of development, fearsome abandon their leaders," said Abhyanand.
The "Maoist tourism" is to establish tourist spots in the areas hit by the violence of the guerrillas.
"We will include some of the rebel hideouts and places where massacres were committed, police always ensuring the safety of tourists," said the agent.
But with large-scale attacks such as this week, the fact is that tourists must have a developed sense of danger in the "red corridor", the violent Maoist stronghold, counterinsurgency and suffered "adivasis", ordinary people .

Maoist rebels kills 49 police in the biggest attack of the year

New Delhi, 15 March 2007. - The Maoist guerrillas in India today ended the lives of 49 policemen in a violent assault against a detachment in the central region of Chatisgarh, which is the biggest rebel attack on what this year.
The attack took place at 02.15 am local time (20.45 GMT Wednesday) about 525 kilometers from the capital of the region, Raipur, ranked Rani Bodli, where there were 24 troops from the Army Corps of the region and other 55 members of the Special Police, who are actually villagers in support tasks.
A total of 15 members of the Army Corps and 34 Special Police officers were killed and 12 personnel of security forces were wounded, as reported in the regional parliament Chatisgarh Governor, Ram Vichar.
The position of the security forces were in a jungle area of difficult access within a district, Dantewada, badly beaten by the Maoists, known in India as "Naxalites" because they rely on the student movement "Naxalbari", the 70's.
"About 500 armed Naxalites attacked the police station with grenades and molotov cocktails, and opened fire indiscriminately," Efe reported by telephone the inspector general of police in the area of Bastar, RK Vij.
After going around the place and kill its defenders advantage that most of them slept, guerrillas seized their weapons and undermined the surrounding area, which has hampered the rescue of the bodies.
"There were about 80 policemen on the job, and 13 of them have been taken to hospital," said Vij.
Dantewada district in the south, has become the epicenter of violence by the guerrillas since the regional government contributed to the establishment of anti-Maoist movement called "Campaign for Peace" (Salwa Judum), which enrolled about 50,000 villagers.
In fact, speaking of the "Special Police Officers", in reality the authorities refer to the local tribal youth, including girls, who receive a monthly salary of 1,500 rupees (25 euros) as payment for help security forces in operations against the rebels.
Although the Maoist guerrillas often operates in twelve Indian regions, their attacks usually take place on a small scale, as evidenced by the murder last March 5, national deputy Sunil Mahato along with two of his bodyguards in neighboring Jharkhand.
In Chatisgarh, the Naxalites have been committed in the past two years 1,187 acts of violence, but only the attack committed on 17 July 2006 against Errabore refugee camp, which killed 60 people, had the entity of attack Today, India PTI news agency reported.
The region of Chatisgarh, undeveloped, poverty has one of the reasons why many young people in rural areas embrace guerrilla activity, whose origins are linked but the university movement.
Initially, the Maoist guerrilla movement had a powerfully with students of the Indian state of Bengal, and only later developed in rural and impoverished areas of the states of central and eastern India, where about 6,000 people have died due to violence.
The guerrillas, grouped in the Communist Party of India (Maoist), took its name from the Bengali village "Naxalbari", where in 1967 there was a violent rebellion based on the ideas of Mao.
Considered by the Indian state as "terrorists", the Naxalite guerrillas maintain an ideology that runs from the struggle to establish an independent Maoist state in the east and center of the country, to an alleged collaboration with international armed movements and the secret services of Pakistan.
"The notion that a Naxalite hates his country is idiotic. He is someone who loves his country more than the rest of us, so it feels more annoying than others when it is corrupted. Not a bad citizen who commits crimes. It is a good citizen driven to despair, "says Abhay Naxalite in his blog.