RAIPUR: Senior tribal leader and former union minister Arvind Netam on Tuesday demanded the withdrawal of central para-military forces from Bastar and convening a meeting of all tribal leaders to discuss the situation arising out of two separate judicial commissions recently indicting security forces for killing innocent villagers during anti-Naxalite operations.
Talking to reporters in the state capital, he reiterated his demand for withdrawal of Central Para-military forces from Bastar saying that they are neither sensitive to the local population nor aware of the social, cultural and religious practices and topography of the region.
Netam, who is convenor of Sarva Adivasi Samaj, wrote a letter to state Governor Anusuiya Uikey seeking her intervention to make public reports of all judicial commissions that probed incidents of fake encounters and other violent incidents in insurgency-hit tribal Bastar region. He said all reports, including of Sarkeguda killings, Edesmetta killing and Tadmetla violence should be available in the public domain.
Stating that the people of Bastar must know who all were responsible for the loss of innocent lives, the former union minister said immediate legal action must be taken against them. “Tribals are waiting to see that action is taken against them”, he added.
The veteran leader’s demand comes a day after the state government tabled in the Vidhan Sabha the report of a one-man judicial commission that probed the Edesmetta firing of 2013. Justice V K Agrawal, in his report, concluded that eight people were killed and one of that slain was a Maoist and that security forces may have fired in panic when the tribals were celebrating a local festival.
Pointing out that even in the past judicial commissions have indicted the security forces for such killings, the former union minister said “it’s time that central forces must go out. Maoist problem cannot be solved through the use of force. We have to find other solutions”.
Netam also urged the state government to convene a meeting of all tribal leaders to discuss the Naxal problem and the situation arising out of judicial commission findings of the killings in Bastar. “There has been a lot of discussion about the Maoist problem. Now the government must talk to the victims. A meeting of Tribal leaders of all parties should be convened”, he added.
