In a joint appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, five Left parties urged him to put an immediate halt to the “extra-judicial” killings in the region around Chhattisgarh under Operation Kagar.
In a letter, the general secretaries of the five Left parties — CPI’s D. Raja, CPI(M)‘s M.A. Baby, CPI(ML)‘s Dipankar Bhattacharya, Revolutionary Socialist Party’s Manoj Bhattacharya and All India Forward Bloc’s G. Devarajan — said there are reports that several senior Maoist leaders are currently in the custody of the security forces. “We demand that they should all be produced in court and dealt with as per the rule of law,” they said.
Also read: Seeking truth and reconciliation in Chhattisgarh
Issue of militarisation
The Adivasis in the region have long been complaining about the militarisation of the region. “The Adivasi rights enshrined in the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution are being systematically violated and the forests and minerals of Chhattisgarh are being subjected to indiscriminate corporate exploitation with disastrous implications for environmental stability and livelihood of the local people. We urge upon you to stop this militaristic approach that treats the Adivasis with unmitigated hostility,” the joint appeal said.
