Beverly Longid
Co-Convenor, Int’l IPMSDL
The International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation condemns the plans of the Indian Army to take over Indigenous land in Abujhmad and drive out thousands of Indigenous Adivasi peasants to give way for military training, encampment, and furthering the fascist counterinsurgency program of the Modi regime.
The Indian Army is seeking to occupy over 53,000 hectares of land in Abujhmad, a hilly forest area in Chhattisgarh, India, and displace 2400 families. According to army officers, a maneuver range will allow them to conduct tank training, simulation of battlefield scenarios, and “hone their skills” in a realistic environment. We find it preposterous that this is happening at the expense of Indigenous Peoples livelihood, their right to land and self-determination.
The Indian government tries to justify this move by capitalizing on its intelligence information that Abujhmad is home to senior cadres of the Communist Party of India (CPI-Maoist) and its armed wing the People’s Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA). These developments in the Indian Army’s deployment comes after the Ministry of Home Affairs – India’s internal-security agency – has ordered state officials that “…time has come to end Maoism.”
The forcible displacement of civilians caught between warring parties is an explicit violation of International Humanitarian Law, something that has been consistently violated by the Indian government in the last 8 months of Operation Kagaar in the region, targeting mostly Indigenous Peoples, Adivasis, poor farmers and other minorities. Under the Narendra Modi government, the dominance of Brahmanic Hindutva culture of rightist chauvinism, aggression and fascist attacks against religious minorities and lower strata continue to worsen.
Furthermore imperialist powers like the United States government are equally accountable for crimes against the people of India. In the last 20 years, delivery of arms and war equipment has been a consistent facet of US-India relations, with India standing out as the world’s largest arms importer in terms of value. The Indian government’s strategy and tactics of counterinsurgency comes from the US Counterinsurgency Guide, and key agencies and organizations like the National Technical Research Organization, and the US-India Joint Counterterrorism Working Group were designed and initiated by the US.
Imperialists, including transnational and multinational corporations, along with India’s political and business elite, seek for the completion of defeating the people’s movement because of their interest in the rich resources of Abujhmad. Abujhmad which directly translates to “unknown hills” remains to be the one of India’s last frontiers and is rich with untouched resources, a fact that remains true because of the valiant resistance of Adivasis against the plunder of their ancestral domain.
IPMSDL joins our Adivasi brothers and sisters in condemning these brutal attacks against Indigenous Peoples rights and the bloody rampage against communities and movements. These attacks only highlight the fact that the Indian ruling class is in deep crisis and resorting to militarism and brutality instead of addressing the root causes of conflict including the question of land, territories, people’s welfare and right to self-determination.
We appeal to the UN Human Rights Council, international human rights watchdogs, and the global community to look into these crimes and violations of IHL. The charge of tyranny in Abujhmad has claimed too many lives and has accumulated a long list of violations too conspicuous to ignore.
We urge peace-loving citizens around the world, advocates of the right to self-determination, supporters of the cause for genuine freedom, and anti-imperialism to stand in solidarity with Adivasis and the Indian people in exposing India’s fascist and corrupt elite, along with its imperialist masters, primarily the United States, and hold them accountable for their crimes against the people.
Likewise, we extend our utmost support to the broad resistance movement of the people, mass organizations of Indigenous Peoples, women, youth, peasants and workers fighting for their future with hope and determination against the most barbaric assaults.
Stop Operation Kagaar!
Stop Operation Samadhan Prahar!
End US-support to the Hindutva fascist regime!
Down with fascism, imperialism, and reaction!
Struggle for self-determination and liberation!
