New Delhi, July 26 (ANI): The "Red Terror" of Naxals regularly triggers off an awakening call for the authorities - not in the cause of national security and integrity, but to protect and preserve the tribal people and their rich culture and identity.
The Naxals, who describe themselves as the 'protectors of the tribals', are in reality, a menace to that community and other villagers.
The armed rebels are known to forcibly abduct tribal youth and compel them to join their outfits. Those who resist are dealt with brutally on charges of being police informers.
Among countless incidents is that of 32-year-old Kishor Bhimrao Atra.
Abducted by Naxals on July 18, 2012 from Kamlapur village in Aheritaluga district of Maharashtra, Atra was brutally killed on a suspicion that he was a police informer.
The rebels went a step further in their brutality by throwing his body near his village as a warning and a reminder to all about what awaits those who defy the Naxal diktat.
These outrageous acts by Naxals, whose numbers have grown from 20,000 in 2006 to over 50,000 now have been condemned.
From the jungles, these guerrillas are now spreading their menacing tentacles into villages, towns and cities, posing a serious security threat and a risk to the future of the indigenous tribal culture and identity.
Traditionally the tribals - be it in Jharkhand, West Bengal or Maharashtra, lived a simple and fearless life. But, they no longer so!
They always live in fear imposed by the rebels, who barge into their hamlets either requesting for food or handing over a young member of the family to them.
Any resistance ends with disastrous consequences.
Now, the children from Naxal-affected villages are migrating to towns and cities - not for better prospects, but to protect themselves from being recruited by Naxals.
Dinesh Nageshiya is among those 70 students, who have migrated from several naxal-affected villages in Jharkhand's Lohardaga district, to pursue their higher education.
"Maoists ask us to get involve with them and force us to take up arms", sadly narrated the 14-year-old Dinesh, who have an ambition to be a doctor.
There are several tribal children like him who earn big dreams, but they are tortured mentally and socially by the Naxals.
The Maoists reportedly mobilise children like him into their junior wing and indoctrinate, train, and use them as informers against the administration.
They use children to gather intelligence apart from deploying them on sentry duties, to make and plant landmines and bombs, and also engage them in hostilities against government forces.
The South Asia Director of the New York-based Human Rights Watch, Meenakshi Ganguly, said: "We believe that children should not be used in armed combat at all and all armed groups should stop doing it immediately."
The nearly five-decade-old Maoist insurgency in India has resulted in bringing a bad name to tribals, the indigenous people who have a rich history and cultural heritage.
Their repeated attacks are a well-designed conspiracy to misguide the tribal people and force them to wage a war against the government.
Sometimes, this has led to a case of mistaken identity and tribals lost their lives in crossfire between Naxals and security forces. A majority of times the villagers were used as human shields for their protection by the rebels.
Though tribal people understands the modus operandi of the rebels, but they are helpless to preserve identify and future of their coming generations. By Ravi Khandelwal (ANI)
|
|
Comments:
