Maoists are ideologically committed not to target civilians, says Professor Hargopal

The attack by Maoists on the Intercity express in Bihar is contrary to the policies of Maoists said the Human rights activist and academic, Professor Hargopal, in an interview with the Asian News International.

Prof Hargopal was hinting at the possibility that Maoists attacked the train thinking that it was carrying CRPF forces; they did not want to attack civilians on board.

He said: "If the train was carrying CRPF jawans and CRPF jawans were going as a part of the strategy of the state to attack the Maoist party and as a part of the overall strategy they were going to hit them very hard then obviously confrontation between state and the Maoist party becomes inevitable."

Over hundred Naxalites fired indiscriminately at the Dhanbad-Patna Intercity Express after forcibly stopping the train between Bhalui and Kundra railway station in Jamui district. The ultras snatched arms from the RPF jawans.

Prof Hargopal, who was one of the mediators nominated by the Maoists to participate in the discussions held for the release of the Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon last year, also pointed out that during the attack on the Congress convoy in Bastar on May 25, the Maoists wanted to kill two or three and they never intended to kill others. They, he pointed out, "expressed their regrets to the families of those who were killed in their attack".

Prof Hargopal also recalled that when peace talks were held in Andhra Pradesh, concerned citizens emphasized that they should see that there is no loss of human life, and if there is any attack on police or CRPF, the common man and innocent people should not die "whether it is in police firing or in the firing of the Maoists".

Prof Hargopal added:" I mean this has been our demand with the state that they should not kill innocent adivasis or innocent people and it has been also the demand that Maoists should not target the innocent people because they have nothing to do with the incident."

Two companies of CRPF have been rushed to the spot to carry out a combing-cum-search operation against the Maoists who retreated into the forest after carrying out the daring attack on the train.

The Indian Railways has set up help line numbers at Dhanbad, which are 0326- 2220016, 0326- 2220017 and 0326- 2220018.

An all-party meet held at Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's official 7, Race Course Road (RCR) in New Delhi earlier on June 10 emphasized that there can be no compromise in dealing with the Naxal violence.

A resolution, which was adopted at the meeting, urged the youth to leave the path of violence and pursue their goals through democratic means.

The resolution, which strongly denouncing Left-Wing Extremist violence, said nothing can be more dangerous than the insurgency to overthrow parliamentary democracy and Constitution of India through violent means.

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, has said the government has been following a two-pronged strategy to deal with this challenge of Left Wing Extremism- sustained and proactive operations against Maoist extremists and addressing development and governance issues in Left Wing Extremist affected areas.

"We believe that there is a need to further fine tune and strengthen this strategy. We have already started work in this direction. I would not like to take your time to give details of the steps that we are taking or planning to take, but would only reaffirm that our government will not be found wanting in this regard," said Dr. Singh in his opening remarks at the all-party meeting held in wake of the May 25 Chhattisgarh Maoist attack.

"We believe that there is urgency to the need to effectively deal with the Naxalite menace. Even as we take all measures that are needed to permanently root out this menace, we must immediately ensure that Naxalite violence is held in check and attacks like the one in Chhattisgarh do not recur," he added.