RAIPUR: Between 2001 and 2024, the conflict was destroyed floodplain area at Chhattisgarh have recorded more killing civilians in the Naxal violence of security personnel who lost their lives in a targeted attack.
According to Bastar police data, 1,623 civilians out of 1,851 were killed by Maoist and 228 others died in it IED explosion which occurred in seven districts in the Maoist-affected division.
On the other hand, 1,292 security personnel were killed in several incidents of encounters, ambushes and IED blasts.
When the Maoists resort to target killing security forces by hiding, spike holes and planting IEDs, they killed villagers and tribesmen on suspicion that they were working as police informant or support development. Often, villagers, children and livestock are killed in IEDs planted by Naxals to destroy the Javanese people.
Juxtaposing Maoist violence with built-up pressure on them because anti-Naxalite operation in Bastar, where the security forces are going to intensify and hit hard with 192 Maoists gunned down this year, it is a dark contrast that 32 villages and 15 jawans have been reported killed in Naxal violence this year. Civilian killings have ranged between 34-93 since 2011 but deaths have been higher, exceeding the 100 and 200 mark, between 2005 and 2010. The highest killing of 297 civilians was recorded in 2006 and 200 Javanese were killed in 2007.
The detailed data came after the murder of three villagers in Bijapur. Earlier, when Maoists went on a killing spree in 2020, they killed more than a dozen people including security personnel in the same district.
There is a perception among people in Bastar that Bijapur has an air of aggression more than other tribal areas and, the natives who are Maoists of Bijapur are said to be more ruthless, who usually do not consider people’s demands and are ideologically wrong.
Talk to TOIBastar inspector general of police (IG) P Sundarraj said several factors influenced the Maoists to resort to violence against villagers. The IG said, more than 20-25% of these killings are due to target failure to give early warning of police movement and about 4-5% are people who are given money by Maoists to get things and the victims are unable to deliver (willingly). or unwilling), and will surely die. The rest are people whose family members are in the police or security forces, or who support development work even if they don’t protest.
“Naxalites expect local people to protest against the security camps established in remote areas and against the police and administration. Some other people are informers for the rebels but they fail to give accurate input about the police movements that cause casualties to Naxals, then the same Police and administration have them as a victim and not a Naxal supporter to get victim benefits,” IG Sundarraj told TOI.
Maoists kill small suspicions, like if a person goes missing in a village because he went to the district headquarters for work, and finds something happening during that time, it is enough reason to tag that person as a police informer, he added.
The IG said, in the middle of the complex matrix of various factors, Maoists also call for violence with civilians to induce the fear factor, to disconnect from the outside world, so that the village remains far away without development and participate in protests. “This is a psychological war that is carried out from time to time to mark the presence and special terror on or before August 15, January 26, during the elections. family members leave the house and punish them they fear for the safety of other members,” he said Sundarraj, hoped that if the objection was sparked in one area of Bastar, it would spread to other areas as well.
We often think it is Maoists who are demotivated when they attack villagers, as they face setbacks in their organization, the aim is to boost the morale of the cadres by creating panic and terror in the area, the IG said.
