Sukma Attack Was In Retaliation To Sexual Violence On Tribal Women, Says Maoist Leader

The Sukma attack that killed 25 CRPF personnel was in retaliation to the atrocities and sexual violence by security forces against tribal women in the conflict zone, the Dand Karanya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) has said. 

According to a report by The Hindu, the outlawed outfit  has said that the attack should be seen as an answer to the 'countless incidents of sexual violence which is a blot on any civilized society.'

"These attacks are being carried out to liberate the tribal people in conflict areas from the inhuman atrocities they are facing from the security forces,”  the report has quoted the DKSZC spokesperson who goes with the alias 'Vikalp' as saying. 

“The PLGA (CPI (Maoist)’s military wing People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army) launched the Chintagufa-Burkapal attack (on the security forces on April 24, 2017) to give an answer to (the government’s) mission 2017 and the fake (Maoist) surrender campaign. We congratulate the PLGA, its leadership, commanders and the people of Dand Karanya for their active support. This attack (Burkapal attack) was just an extension of the Bhejji attack (on the CRPF in March 2017). These attacks are retaliatory, defensive, to defeat anti-people policies and to take forward the pro people struggle,” he added. 

The Dand Karanya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) had owned up to two back-to-back attacks on the security forces in Sukma district of south Chhattisgarh. 37 CRPF Personnel lost their lives in these strings of attacks in the last 50 days. 

The Maoist spokesperson however, has refuted claims that the dead bodies of CRPF jawans were mutilated by the PLGA.

“We don’t treat the dead bodies of the jawans killed in the PLGA attacks with disrespect." he said, further alleging that "it is the police and the paramilitary forces who give such treatment to the dead bodies of PLGA members killed in encounters. Many dead bodies of the Maoists have been mutilated (by the security forces) and they also delayed in giving the dead bodies to their family members. The security forces also clicked objectionable pictures of our women PLGA members killed in fighting and spread them on social media,” 

The leader further added that their fight is not with the jawans.

"They are least of all our class enemies. But they are coming in the way of public welfare by being a part of the government’s exploitative and anti-people machinery." He said, adding that the fight was against "Brahmanic, Hindutva, Fascist, Sanghi, and the BJP governments and the direct involvement and active protection of the police and security forces."