PUCL Orissa: Press Statement - Appeal for Peace

PEOPLE'S UNION FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES (PUCL)

Bhubaneswar Unit

National Office:                                                                                    Bhubaneswar Unit office

270-Patparganj                                                                                     2C-3^rd Floor

Opp-Anandlok Apartments                                                                Pushpanjali Apartments

Mayur Vihar                                                                                          Vivekanand Marg

Delhi-110091                                                                                       Bhubaneswar-751002

                Tel-22750014                                                                                       Tel-2430589        

PRESS STATEMENT                                               Dt.11.7.11

Sub: Escalation of Violence and Appeal for Peace

People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) expresses its deep concern at the escalation of violence and killings by the Maoists as well as by the State.  What is most distressing in this spiral of violence is that the ordinary citizens, mostly adivasis, are being made to pay a heavy price and there is a gross violation of human rights by both the sides. 

PUCL thinks that the agreement reached between the Govt. of Orissa and the Maoists through mediators in the wake of the abduction of the Malkanagiri Collector and a junior engineer was an opportunity for resolution of conflict and for prevalence of peace. Though both the parties blame each other for breach of agreement, the state should have addressed with right earnest the issues raised by the Maoists, particularly, related to land and release of adivasis languishing in jails, which PUCL believes, would have contributed immensely for the resolution of the problem.   Sadly, the state continues to resort to indiscriminate arrests and 'encounters' to tackle the Maoists.  The Maoists, on their part, showing little regards for human rights, have been killing unarmed adivasis in the name of 'police informers.'  This is unacceptable.

It also needs to be noted that the government's tactic of use of force to suppress any dissent is being applied not only against the Maoists. What is being witnessed presently in Dhinkia and Govindpur area – where people are resisting POSCO to save their land and livelihood – is a clear testimony to the state's approach to use brute force to suppress any democratic struggle, no matter what the issue is.

In this context, the recent judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court is worth quoting. While analyzing the Maoist problem in Chhatisgarh it states: " The problem rests in the amoral political economy that the State endorses, and the resultant revolutionary politics that it necessarily spawns."  It further observes, "That violent agitator politics, and armed rebellion in many pockets of India have intimate linkages to socio-economic circumstances, endemic inequalities, and a corrupt social and state order that preys on such inequalities has been well recognized". 

We in PUCL, appeal to the Govt. of Orissa to deal with the armed rebellion of Maoists as well as all other democratic struggles of people in the light of the pronouncement of the Hon'ble Supreme Court so that peace can prevail.  We also appeal to the Maoists to refrain from killing in the best interest of dignity of human life and human rights.

 

Pramodini Pradhan

Convenor PUCL- Orissa

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Peace Is Doable