NHRC's statement on the Naxalite attack in Chhattisgarh on 25th May, 2013<br> <br>

The National Human Rights Commission is appalled by the savage attack in Chhattisgarh on 25th May, in which so many persons were killed by the Naxalites, some after being taken alive. The Commission condemns this brutality and urges the Naxalites to abandon their violence, which has made matters worse for the villagers whose cause they claim to espouse.
The Commission follows developments in Chhattisgarh closely. After its report to the Supreme Court on Salwa Judum and the relief camps which house villagers displaced by the ongoing violence, its Special Rapporteur and officers of the Commission have made follow-up visits to the State. All Members of the Commission, led by the Chairperson, went to Chhattisgarh in April, 2013 and held a camp sitting in Raipur, where they heard representations from, among others, villagers of the areas most severely affected by the violence. Two Members, accompanied by officers of the Commission, traveled to Dantewada to try to form a first-hand impression of developments in the Bastar region, where the suffering is the most acute.
It was clear to the Commission that the Naxals have now made it impossible to reach social welfare programmes to those who need them most. The plight of the poorest and the most vulnerable, on whose behalf the Naxals claim to have taken up arms, has therefore become even worse. Health and education facilities can rarely be provided; only the public distribution system is permitted to function, because a part of these food supplies the pool from whom the Naxals recruit their cadres. For the Naxals, therefore, violence is self-serving. There is no just cause which they try to advance through it.
The Commission is extremely concerned that the level of violence will rise again after this last attack by the Naxals as the State tries to arrest or kill those who were responsible. Police officers have confirmed to the Commission that the Naxals use villagers who are sympathizers as human shields when they are cornered. Other villagers have no option but to do what they are ordered to do by the Naxalites, but are then branded as supporters by the police and suffer the consequences. The Commission therefore urges the Central and State Governments to take every precaution possible to ensure that the innocent villagers of the region, already traumatized by the ongoing violence, of which they are the primary victims, do not suffer even more in any retaliatory operations against the Naxals.