Maoists have cops in a web

Hyderabad, Dec. 30: The cyber duel between the police and the Maoists has turned into a cat and mouse game. Every time the police gets a website or a blog closed, Maoist sympathisers set up another one and continue as before. The cyber catch-me-if-you-can hotted up last week after the police got Peoples March, the most popular pro-Maoist site, blocked through Central agencies. Its editor Govindan Kutty was arrested in Kerala.

The website used to carry interviews with top Maoist leaders including Ganapati and spokesperson Azad. It was blocked an year ago but emerged again and was blocked last week. The Special Intelligence Branch says Peoples March and other websites act as communication link between the underground cadres and sympathisers.

The service provider has left a message stating that the action was taken for violation of programme policies. Following this, however, Maoist sympathisers set up maoistmovementinindia.com. The new site carried a warning to the police to release Kutty or he would go on a hunger strike. A senior police official said, “Maoists are using the internet to propagate their ideology. The network is big.” The Maoists are under pressure in the AP with the police evicting them from most of their bases. The internet offers a safe way to get the Maoist message across.

“Several Maoist sympathisers from AP are writing columns using pennames,” the official said. State police suspects that Maoist leaders who are in hiding in Andhra Pradesh are frequently visiting Kerala, where most of the pro-Maoist bloggers are based. Sources pointed out that Maoist leader Raji Reddy was picked up in Kerala earlier this month. Following this, the Revolutionary People’s Front complained to the Kerala government which resulted in the police announcing Raji Reddy’s arrest.

Pointing out to the close links, police noted that the AP Revolutionary Writers Association had condemned the arrest of Kutty of Peoples March. Sources in the police said that the bloggers have close links with Maoist sympathisers and this has been detected by sniffer software. Resistance India.blogsot.com, a Mao-ist blog, was hacked in August, and the role of the law enforcing agencies is suspected. Following this, the Maoist sympathisers created maoistresitance.blogspot.com. Police has also blocked Naxal revolution.blogspot but expect another blog to replace it. From the police side, www.naxalwatch.blogspot.com, an anti-Maoist website supported by AP-based police, is a popular anti-Naxal blogspot

Deccan Chronicle

Cops took a bigger hit than Naxalites in 2007

More than 200 policemen lost their lives fighting Maoists in central India’s killing fields this year. The number of Naxalites they killed was a little above half this figure, according to official records.

The year 2007 saw the highest body loss suffered by security forces in many years in the battle against Maoist guerrillas, whom Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called ‘ the single biggest security challenge to the Indian state’.

Singh told a conference of ministers this month that the Naxals – who were consolidating, getting stronger and more confident – had developed the capability in some areas to launch frontal attacks on police forces and establishments.

Official figures complied by the Union home ministry for this conference indicate that 214 policemen lost their lives in the first 11 months this year, up from 133 policemen killed during the same period last year and 105 killed in 2003. The number of naxals killed had, however, declined from last year’s 239 in 2006 and 216 in 2003, to 129 this year.

The union home ministry has explained the larger number of deaths to better coordinated attacks by the Maoists who have access to enhanced fire power, a militaristic strategy and an enviable ability to analyse adverse situation and devise strategies for counter them.

Vishwa Ranjan, director general of police of Chhattisgarh, where 181 policemen were killed this year, attributed the higher casualties to the series of operations undertaken by the security forces.

“We are trying to enter areas dominated by them… it is natural that the force entering an area held by the other side would have to take a heavier toll,” he said, pointing out that the casualties would increase, on both sides, as security forces push their way in.

But the sacrifice, he emphasised, was not in vain. “We reported 66 casualties among naxals as we had to go by the body count. But their literature seized recently indicates they loss about 180 people in the operations,” he said.

Hindustan Times

Release Govindan Kutty, the Editor of People’s March Unconditionally

Revolutionary Democratic Front

All India Committee

rdfindia@gmail.com

Date: 31 December 2007

Release Govindan Kutty, the Editor of People’s March Unconditionally

Withdraw False Case Fabricated on the Editor

On December 19th the Kerala Police, under the orders of Ernakulum Police Commissioner, raided the room of Govindan Kutty, 65, the editor and publisher of Peoples March which is not a banned publication and confiscated all his literature and computer hard disk. Govindan Kutty was arrested under the charges of spreading sedition and indulging in unlawful activities and was remanded in judicial custody by a lower court at Aluva in Kerala. He was implicated in a fabricated case under a number of clauses like section 134 A and 163B of Indian Penal Code and 13 of (1) b of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and sent to Aluva prison.

The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in the State under the close instructions of UPA Government at the Centre resorted to this crackdown on the popular revolutionary magazine. Govindan Kutty, according to his lawyers, was harassed and psychologically tortured for a day in the name of interrogation before being sent to judicial custody. Ever since he was arrested he was on hunger strike protesting against the trampling down of his right to freedom of speech and Freedom of Press.

He continues his protest within the four walls of the prison demanding his unconditional release. His lawyer who met him two days ago said that his health condition was serious given his age and chronic ailments with which has been suffering. His life is in a serious threat.

The arrest of Govindan Kutty and the police crackdown on the office of the publication was an attack on the freedom of press.

As hundreds of thousands of people from all corners of the world know, the People’s March supports all revolutionary movements including the Maoist movements in India , Nepal and elsewhere. It is a fully legal publication registered with Indian registrar of Newspapers of the Government of India with the RNI number KER ENG/2000/2051 and the postal registration number: KL/EKM/614/2007-09. The magazine has been coming out for over 7 years (since 1998) meeting all the legal requirements. The magazine has been freely available not only in bookstalls all over India, but also in prominent libraries in New Delhi and other major cities in India and abroad.

The People’s March publishes news reports and interviews of Maoists, both from India and abroad like all other hundreds of magazines and newspapers in India. It is People’s March today which is under attack, tomorrow all other media will face the same threat if we don’t raise our voice against this attack on freedom of press.

A year ago the website of People’s March was blocked by the Indian Government without assigning any reasons. When its editors started publishing the online magazine through a blog on googlepages, it was also blocked by Google in December 2007, under the pressure of Indian Government.

The arrest of the editor and the foisting of fake charges against him are nothing but an attempt of the Government of India to further stifle freedom of speech in the country. The so-called largest democracy in the world with a gigantic army, Paramilitary and police force feels threatened by a mere monthly magazine with a limited circulation of a few thousands in print. This action displays the fascist character of the Indian state and the cowardly action of the Kerala police.

The Revolutionary Democratic Front appeals to all democratic and revolutionary organizations and individuals to raise their voice against the arrest of the editor of People’s March, a popular independent revolutionary newspaper from India.

We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Govindan Kutty and allow the continued publication of People’s March. We hold the government entirely responsible in the face of any damage to his health or threat to his life due to hunger strike within jail.

Rajkishore

General Secretary

Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF)