Twenty Five CRPF men martyred in Sukma protecting ‘Right To Development’ and ‘Right to Life’ of tribal in Bastar.
Maoists, who are projected as Robinhood by the Maoist intellectuals residing in urban areas, operate to stall development of the Tribal. They resist the construction of roads and hospitals, school development, the functioning of weekly markets. Security forces operating in Maoism affected areas work on the development and military operations simultaneously. During Salwa Judum, when Tribal raised a counter, Maoists cut motorable roads, demolished bridges and secured isolated areas for themselves by ensuring that there is no road connectivity to their safe zones. Similarly, they do not want children of tribal to go to school as they do not get recruitment for their Dalam (smallest unit of Maoist armed cadre) if the Tribal children are empowered through education. They just want the children to be literate enough to handle basic communication needs of Dalam. Maoists burn equipment of road contractors and also threaten labours not to work with the contractors. Because of this road construction was delayed or stalled at most of the locations as no contractors were ready to work in these areas despite double remuneration for the same work as compared to other locations.
In the last few years, Govt is focusing extensively on the connectivity of roads and mobile towers in Bastar. Injiram- Bhejji Road (where 12 jawans were martyred during ROP on Mar 11, 2017), Doranapal – Jagargonda Road (where the #Burkapal incident happened yesterday ) are key axes which meet deep inside Maoist territory. These two axes, once constructed, will help the locals, solve their problems of basic needs such as education, medical facilities, food etc. Similarly, these two axes will strengthen the position of Security Forces by enabling them access to Maoist stronghold. The construction of these roads and many such roads in Bijapur district is a nightmare for the Maoists. Maoists are counting their last days as this development is also going to affect their recruitment. The Villagers from interior areas, which can be accessed through these routes only, are literally captives of Maoists. They can not even go to market without the permission of Maoists. Maoists do not allow them to avail of Government facilities. Villagers are at the mercy of Maoists due to their weapons, they can not do anything without Maoists’ permission and have to follow Maoist orders. That is the reason Maoists are trying hard to stall road construction of these axes. Many Human Rights activists operating in Maoism affected areas are ostensibly sympathetic to Maoist. They rarely talk about violation of ‘Right to Development ‘ by Maoists and are focused on resisting Police encounters instead. NHRC did not take Suo moto cognizance of these cases where ‘Right to Development’ of Tribal is grossly violated.
CRPF jawans provide protection to contractors’ equipment, labours and also ensure that IEDs on these roads are diffused so that contractors can work smoothly. ROP (Road Opening Party) does this exercise every day for more than twelve hours. No Development can happen in this area without protection by Security Forces. We lost 25 soldiers again protecting ‘Right to Development ‘ and ‘Right to Life’ of the Tribal. The Security Forces sacrifice own Human Rights to protect the Human Rights of others. However, the Human Rights Activists operating in Maoism affected areas are rarely seen concerned about ‘Right to Life’ of the security Forces. Will this apathy change?
