Kaziranga Firing. Forced Evictions | SabrangIndia

In the Name of Conservation, Militarization & HR Violations in Kaziranga: NAPM

Fri, 23 Jun 2017 07:31:49 +0000

The Govt. of India & Assam must End Impunity: Ensure rights of scheduled tribes, forest, park dwellers and safeguard environment-wildlife with an objective & holistic conservation policy

Serious investigations, related to gross hand rights Violations I the Kaziranga National Park (KNP) have come to light: 57 cases of extra-judicial killings over the last three years, as against 106 since 1996 alone The recent deaths include 27 in 2014, 23 in 2015 and 7 in 2016. In the killings, not a single forest staffer has list his/her life in "encounters" since 1985.

This has been brought out recently by the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), an apex body of a large number of people's organisations across India. The NAPM in details sent to Sabrangindia , has alleged that these facts raise “some crucial questions about the official claims that all the killings are of poachers in cross-fire.”

The NAPM has also pointed out that local activists protesting this repression, villagers and activists like Akhil Gogoi, associated with the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) are sought to be suppressed by governments and the administration, in and around Kaziranga.

Recently , The issue once again came to spotlight with the Govts ban on BBCs documentary Killing for Conservation which has exposed the shoot-at-sight policy of KNP and the grim situation of the locals being threatened, harassed, tortured and even killed by the Forest Dept, using conservation a shield. The documentary has graphically portrayed the serious issues faced by communities living at the periphery of KNP by the Forest Dept. in the name of conservation.

The Impunity which shields government officials and the administration is stark.

The repression on the KNPs forest dwellers as well as in its arbitrary ban on BBCs film, threat of blacklisting the media group and revoking its filming permission across the country!

Pointing that the killings are being carried out in what is being termed as ‘good faith’, citing Section 197 of CrPC, NAPM adds, this is the direct result of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which is applicable in the North-Eastern states, allowing “blanket immunity” to “shield for fake encounters, rapes and torture” of scheduled tribes and other forest dwellers of Kaziranga.

NAPM's strong reaction comes amidst a sharp upturn in the struggle against the allegedly repressive attitude of the forest department of Assam and “silence” of the Government of India in the garb of conservation.

Activists like Pranab Doley, Soneswer Narah and others of the Jeepal Krishak Shramik Sangha Akhil Gogoi, associated with the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti and face “continuous threats, trumped-up charges, hand-cuffing and arrests”, because they have been highlighting the “immunity” of the forest department in dealing with the local people.

The forest departments own Report of 2014, while hundreds of alleged poachers have been shot dead in encounters over the years, not a single forest staffer has been killed in an encounter between 1985 and June, 2014.

This record over 3 decades raises some crucial questions about the official claims that all the killings are of poachers in cross-fire!

The NAPM states that " there is enough reason to suspect periodic abuse of the Order dt. 14/7/2010 issued by the Govt. of Assam according legal immunity to all the forest guards of Kaziranga using Firearms, in addition to the existing immunity from judicial proceedings they enjoy for actions done in good faith under Sec 197 of CrPC. India has been witnessing the abuse of draconian legislations like AFPSA for decades in Kashmir, Manipur and other North-East states, where legal immunity is used a shield for fake encounters, rapes and torture." Besides, they add, " We fear for the well-being of the scheduled tribes and other forest dwellers of Kaziranga in the light of such provisions, granting blanket immunity to forest authorities."

Across the country, whether in Niyamgiri, Narmada, Nilgiris or elsewhere scheduled tribes and other forest dwellers are always forcefully made to pay the price for development, many times with their livelihood (displacement) and at times even with their life.

Hence, People’s movements are compelled to ask, if "the Governments of Assam and India, if what the State is doing at KNP is indeed Conservation or Militarization."

The NAPM endorses the key demands of the local people including immediate review of the 33 Highlands Project in the KNP core zone, disclosure of the Environment and Forest Clearance, Environment Impact Assessment Report and allied documents in relation to the Highlands Project within KNP, implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 as well as the LARR Act, 2013; complete reservation to the inhabitants of KNP and its periphery and reservation for ST(P), OBC, MOBC as per government guidelines; regularization of all the casual employees in KNP, immediate release of compensation for loss of life or property during the 2016 floods, a loan waiver for affected farmers, permanent jobs to family members of victims who have lost their life to wild animal attack or innocent victims who have suffered at the hands

The NAPM had also demanded the withdrawal of false cases, end to all forms of threat, arbitrary arrests and a dialogue with the peoples organizations in the area to address the concerns of scheduled tribes, forest ad park dwellers, and involve them in the conservation efforts.

The Govt. must ensure that there are no evictions, without lawful rehabilitation. We also call upon the State Govt. to institute an independent inquiry into all the killings by forest guards and adequate compensation for survivors / family members of state violence. Govt. of India must revoke its ban on BBCs documentary and abstain from issuing any form of threat to media or other public organization that report the ground realities.

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Poaching Humans in Kaziranga

Sun, 25 Sep 2016 19:09:32 +0000

After the BJP came to power in Assam in May 2016, the state government has unleashed a reign of terror to execute its fascistic agendas. Within 2 months into power, the government opened fire and killed a 25 year old man Mintu Deuri, during a protest organized in Raha against the transfer of the site for a proposed All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the state on July 15, 2016. Now on September 19, 2016, just 34 days after the Raha incident, the police has again opened fire and killed two people – Anjuma Khatun and Fakhruddin, at a demonstration led by the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) and All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU) at Banderdubi revenue village near the Kaziranga National Park. The protestors were demanding resettlement and adequate compensation against an eviction drive carried out by the mandate of the Gauhati High Court order dated 9 October 2015 which was supposed to happen two days later, i.e. on 21 September 2016 but had been preponed to avoid protests. The villagers, belonging mainly to the Muslim community of erstwhile East Bengal origin, have been residing in the village for more than half a century.

Out of the 198 displaced families from Banderdubi, around 40 have moved in with their relatives and the rest have been compelled to seek shelter in Baghmari, a nearby village under the open skies. The Deputy Commissioner of Nagaon has not yet allowed any relief measures to reach them. It must be mentioned here that the 7 Hindu families that lived in the village were informed before and were reportedly asked to move into safe places before the commencement of the forceful eviction drive, which highlights the communal agenda of the state administration. One of the most powerful ministers in the Assam government, Himanta Biswa Sarma, posted on his official Facebook page after the eviction drive that the new government would never compromise on “Jati, Mati, and Bheti” [Nationality, Land, and Home], a rhetoric of the homeland creating a paranoia against the Muslim inhabitants of erstwhile East Bengal origin, with which the BJP came to power. Thus in a true fascistic form, the repression has been accompanied with a parallel mobilisational drive, pitting one section of the society against another. Through electronic, print and social media, gross misinformation and falsehood has been consciously spread and we are told, this is a struggle to recover the Assamese nation from the outsiders – the Bangladeshis.

During the hearing of the case, the Advocate-General acknowledged and supported the contention of the applicants that as per the revenue records, Banderdubi and Deochur Chang are two villages that have been declared as revenue village by the government (in 1961) and therefore are not part of the Kaziranga National Park which makes the eviction of any villager from the said areas illegal (GHC Order, pp. 21). However the Gauhati High Court ordered fast eviction of inhabitants in the second, third, fifth and sixth additions of the Kaziranga National Park (GHC Order, pp. 36-37).Reportedly a total of 198 families from Banderdubi, 160 from Deochur Chang and 12 from Palkhowa were evicted in this drive. These villages have been in those areas even before official recognition of Kaziranga Wildlife Sanctuary as a National Park, it’s inhabitants are not encroachers but revenue-paying villagers.According to records these villages (Banderdubi and Deochur Chang) came into existence in 1951 and the government granted patta (land entitlements) in 1961. The names of the villagers were inserted into the voters’ list in 1965 for the assembly election, and a government school was established there in 1966. On the other hand, Kaziranga was declared as a National Park by the central government on 11 February 1974.

Section 144 had already been in place in the said areas since Saturday, 17th of September. It must be mentioned here that the villagers were willing to abide by the Gauhati High Court order and evict the land voluntarily for the cause of conservation of the national park but were simply demanding resettlement and adequate compensation and enough time to comply with the court’s order. In the consequent clash between the police and the local people, the police blatantly resorted to extreme brutality, first with tear gas and then with live bullets. Apart from the casualties, five more people have been severely injured.

The rapidity and force with which the current government has deployed its fascistic agenda by using state mechanisms must be read as clear signs of impending trouble for the already much troubled people of Assam. The targeted and brazen use of police force to kill citizens in order to craft a ‘nation’ and society as per its skewed wishes may soon turn into an irretrievable situation. As in other parts of the country, the Assam government has been acquiring land to serve the interests of the big capital or pursue its ‘developmental’ policies but it has no patience to listen to toiling people when it comes to their requirements for livelihood. And to repeat an age long political cliché, nowhere in the rest of India, or the national media have we seen any reactions or responses to this incident.

In any case, why is it legitimate to kill, even if he or she is a Bangladeshi?

We demand:

Immediate action against the concerned security and state officials who approved the decision to open fire on unarmed and peaceful protestors.
Immediate compensation and rehabilitation of all the evicted people of these villages.
An unconditional apology by the Chief Minister and the Home Minister of Assam to the people of these villagers and the country.
The Government of Assam must ensure and guarantee the safety and human rights of all people, irrespective of caste, creed, sex and religion, as laid out by the Constitution of the Union of India.

We also intend to:

Submit a petition to the National Human Rights Commission appealing that a show-cause notice be served to the Government of Assam asking for the rationale behind the live bullet firing upon protestors.

Sd/-
Biswajit Bora, Shalim M. Hussain, Jyotirmoy Talukdar, Sukruta Alluri, Bonojit Hussain, Mayur Chetia, Nayan Jyoti , Lokesh, Kislay Gonsalvez, Amrapali Basumatary, Usman Jawed, Apoorva Gautam.

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