Privatbrief eines Inders an den Chief Minister of Kerala

Dear Friends

the following is the copy of a letter sent by a concerned citizen to the Chief Minister of Kerala chiefminister@kerala.gov.in, cmkerala@vsnl.net in response to the murderous assault on Adivasis in Kerala on the 19th of February.

        I am forwarding this to you on the hope that you will also give proper importance to this issue. Sorry if i am mistaken.

c saratchandran

Dear Chief Minister

The attack by the police on unarmed and peaceful Adivasis in MUTHANGA RANGE IN WAYANAD WILD LIFE SANCTUARY ON THE 19TH FEBRUARY is most shocking. One does not expect such gross violation of the law under an enlightened and law abiding regime such as yours.

        According to reliable reports over 20 Adivasis were killed in this attack by heavily armed policemen. Scores have been wounded. A very large number of people are missing. I am also reliably informed that the police and other government officials involved in this heinous operation have been secretly disposing off bodies of dead Adivasis in the forest.

        All the 1100 families of Adivasis who had established residence in the cleared lands of the sanctury were abjectly poor and landless. They had entered into this area on the 4th of January in protest against the failure of your government to implement its committment, based upon the agreement that it had reached with the Adivasis on October 16 2001.

        On that date, a Committee headed by Chief Minister, along with some of his colleagues, agreed as follows, with the 'Samara Samithy':

1. Landless Adivasis and those having less than one acre of land would be given land 5 acres of land each;
2. The State government would, by a cabinet resolution, declare all tribal habitations in Kerala as Scheduled Areas under Article 244;
3. The Supreme Court judgement on the 1999 Act would be implemented
4. A Tribal Mission would be constituted to implement the agreement

On this basis of this Agreement, complete details of Which were released to the media, the 'Samara Samithy', of the Adivasi community that had been spearheading the agitation called of its protest and decided to give time to the government to implement the committments made.

        The Government identified 22,491 landless Adivasi families and 30,981 families having less than one acre. Thus, a total of 53,472 families were identified as being eligible to receive 5 acres of land each. Further, as on 1st January 2002, a total of 59,452 acres of lands had been identified for being handed over to the Adivasis. This amounted to less than 2.2 % of the total land required for allotment.

        Land allocation commenced on 1 January 2002. However, less than 600 families were allotted land during the past 16 months. They were allotted about 950 acres of land. In other words, land was allotted to just over 1% of the Adivasis identified as being eligible to receive land. Average allottment to each of these 600 families was less than 30% of their entitlement. Further, less than 1.6 percent of the land identified for allotment to the Adivasis was actually allotted to them.

        The Tribal Mission set up to oversee the implementation of the above mentioned agreement was was "reconstituted" and, thereafter, ceased to function.

        Land allotment stopped after the initial allotment to a handful of families.

        After having given the government over a year to implement what it agreed to the Adivasi Gothra Mahasabha (the grand assembly of Adivasis of Kerala) declared that they would implement what the government agreed to but failed to do.

        It is in this context, that the Adivasis marched into the Muthanga range i n Wayanad Wild Life Santuary on 4 January 2003. On 17 February 2003, the Adivasis who had taken up residence in the cleared areas of the forest caught 21 persons, mostly forest department officials and police, along with hired labour, redhanded, setting fire to the forests. Clearly, the fire was set as part of a conspiracy to fabricate an excuse for a brutal assault on the Adivasis and their forcible eviction from the area. On 18 FEBRUARY the Collector of Waynad came to the area and, after, recording the statements of the culprits who had been caught setting fire to the forest, released them. Immediately after that large contingents of heavily armed police were rushed to the area.

        As already stated, these police personnel launched a brutal attack on the peaceful and unresisting Adivasis on the 19th February afternoon. Scores of people were injured, including women, children and old people. The police also assaulted the Media persons who were covering these happenings, smashing their cameras and equipments.

        Having forced the Media to flee, the police forces renewed their assault on the Adivasis. They fired upon the hapless forest dwellers and hunted them down like animals. As stated, many have been killed, many more injured, coutless numbers are missing and, worst of all, the bodies of the dead are being secretly disposed of in the forest. The whereabouts of Mr. C.K. Janu of the Adivasi Gothra Mahasabha and Mr. Geethanandan of the Adivasi-Dalit Samara Samithy are not known. Their safety is feared for.

        Sir, in the name of all that is just and fair I call upon you to forthwith order your officials, including the police, the forest officials and the anti-social elements who have been enlisted by these officials for this purpose, to stop their brutal and murderous assault upon the Adivasis. I, further, call upon you to forthwith order a judicial inquiry into the incident by a sitting judge of the High Court. I, further, call upon you to forthwith issue instructions to all the concerned departments of your government to implement the Agreement dated 16th October 2001 and to ensure that the same is implemented in letter and in spirit. Last but not least I call upon you to ensure the safety of MR. C.K JANU OF THE ADIVASI GOTHRA MAHASABHA AND MR. GEETHANANDAN OF THE ADIVASI-DALIT SAMARA SAMITHY.

        As an elected representative of the people, working under the Constitution of India, which guarantees the right to life and the equal protection of the law to all persons you are duty bound to protect the lives of the citizens. Even more so when the victims of lawlessness by the State security forces belong to the abjectly poor and backward sections of society, whom the founding fathers of this nation thought fit for extension of special protection and consideration.

Yours sincerely
A Concerned Citizen