Democracy Demands: Justice for Afzal, Repeal of AFSPA

There are good reasons as to why the demand for clemency for Afzal has become a popular democratic cry beyond the Kashmir valley. While the entire country condemned the attack on Parliament, the case built up by the state and its investigation and prosecution agencies has since been exposed to be full of gaping holes. Attempts made by the Delhi Police to secure conviction of Delhi University Lecturer SAR Geelani in the same case have already been judicially rebuffed. Legal experts have pointed out many loose ends in the whole case and Afzal Guru and his wife Tabassum have complained about custodial torture and denial of their right to get a lawyer of their choice to defend Afzal.

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Soon after Tabassum met the President and sought his intervention to stay the death sentence, Advani and Rajnath Singh rushed to Rashtrapati Bhawan to warn him against granting Presidential pardon to Afzal. This is the party which when it was in power had released key terror suspects from jail and sent its senior leader and External Affairs minister in Vajpayee's cabinet to Kandahar to hand them over to an international terrorist organisation to meet the demands of plane hijackers. It finds nothing wrong in giving in to hijackers' demands and striking deals with terrorist organisations when it is in power; it rubbishes the Constitution and the Supreme Court in the name of ‘faith', and equally characteristically it feels unnerved by the voice of democracy and reason. Once again the BJP has exposed how utterly it despises and fears democracy.

The death sentence for Afzal on rather shaky grounds and insufficient and doubtful evidence is reflective of the typically dubious and biased manner in which the state has been dealing with terrorism, throwing every notion of human rights and democracy to the winds and often harassing and persecuting entire communities – religious and national minorities – in the name of tackling terrorism. This has been exposed time and again in Kashmir, Punjab and the North-East and now Muslims all over the country are complaining of this vicious bias on the part of the Indian state. Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh had to admit as much in their recent speeches at the Nainital conclave of Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states. Even as the Congress Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir , Gulam Nabi Azad has been compelled to reflect the sentiment of the people of his state to demand clemency for Afzal, the Congress continues to follow in the footsteps of the BJP and turn a deaf ear to the voices of reason and justice.

The anti-democratic attitude of the Congress gets further exposed on the issue of the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act. The Act that gives a virtual licence to the Army to kill and rape at will and shields the Army from the long arms of law that grip every common citizen in the country has always been resented by the people as the biggest serial killer of liberty, democracy and dignity of the people. The people of Manipur, the state that has suffered the longest spell of the Act and consequently the bitterest taste of its draconian and barbaric potential, have time and again risen in heroic revolt against this killer Act. Manipur's spirit of protest and resistance has found its most determined champion in Sharmila Chanu who has been on a fast for the past six years demanding scrapping of the AFSPA. While she holds the state guilty of murdering liberty and justice and waging war on the people, the ‘rule of law' in the country accuses her of attempting suicide! After her recent release from judicial custody in Imphal when she travelled to Delhi , an unnerved UPA government promptly put her back into judicial custody and transferred her to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. But the government refuses to answer her simple straightforward demand: repeal the AFSPA.

In 2004 when the whole of Manipur was aflame with the fire of people's resistance after the rape and murder of Manorama, Manmohan Singh had visited Imphal and a commission was set up to probe the AFSPA ‘controversy'. The report of the commission headed by former Justice BP Jeevan Reddy has been lying with Manmohan Singh's government since June 2005. The government has refused to make the report public, let alone implement its unambiguous recommendation to repeal the Act which the Commission has found to have become “a symbol of oppression, an object of hate and an instrument of discrimination and high-handedness.”

When Manmohan Singh goes abroad he pushes speeches and treaties down the throat of Indians that glorify our formal colonial masters and current imperialist bosses and bring only shame, humiliation and insecurity to the country. When he visits Imphal and Vidarbha, he sheds crocodile tears and gives empty assurances that are never fulfilled. Thus the Reddy Commission report has been gathering dust and in Maharasthra farmers have been left ‘free' to hang themselves right within the premises of the state Assembly. This politics of murder and falsehood cannot go on forever. This government must be made to understand that Tabassum and Sharmila are not alone; their cry for justice is a cry of millions in the country. If this cry is ignored, the people's verdict will soon be out against the killer and liar government. And nobody will be able to hush it up.

All India Protests against Starvation, Suicides and State Repression in UP

CPI(ML) observed October 9 as All India Protest Day to condemn the spate of starvation deaths and suicides and continuing attacks on people's movements by the Mulayam Singh Govt. in UP. Recent incidents of police brutality on CPI(ML) and AIALA leaders in Sitapur district and arrests of 138 protesters led by Party's Central Committee member Krishna Adhikari in Pilibhit were opposed through these protests and it was demanded to withdraw all cases imposed on leaders and activists in Sitapur, Pilibhit, Ambedkarnagar, Mirzapur, Sonbhadra and other districts of UP. Protests were held at many important centres throughout the country including Delhi .

In UP, a 50-hour hunger strike was organised on 9-11 October by hundreds of workers and peasants led by UP State Secretary and Polit Bureau member Akhilendra Pratap Singh. A rally was also taken out from Charbagh Railway Station to the Vidhan Sabha. A number of organisations including Jan Morcha and PDF expressed their solidarity with the hunger strikers. Speakers in the dharna condemned the UP Govt. and said that its attitude towards the people's movements is utterly undemocratic and barbaric. The activists are being subjected to third degree tortures by the police. When activists were sitting on a peaceful dharna in Sitapur to demand job cards, their leaders, human rights activist Brij Bihari and AIALA National Councillor Rakesh Singh, who is also the state President of Revolutionary Youth Association and was a popular students leader in Lucknow University , were forcibly picked up by the police and sent to lock-up on Sept. 8. Then, after midnight, Rakesh Singh was taken for a medical check-up after which he was subjected to severe torture. He was hanged upside down and lathi-blows brutally showered over his soles. Comrade Krishna Adhikari and 138 other activists in Pilibhit were framed with false charges under 7 CL Act and sent to jail on Sept. 20 for demanding red cards to all BPL families. Earlier, CPI(ML) leaders Rambharos and Bal Mukund Dhuria along with a number of comrades were arrested in Ambedkar Nagar district for leading agitation on similar issues.

UP Govt. is hell-bent on suppressing every movement against policies leading to starvation and suicides. Ongoing repression of Dadri farmers agitating against SEZ and land acquisition is another glaring example of this. Common citizens are also facing such repression. Even Mau riots victims are now facing police atrocities to prevent them from giving statements before the court. Police has not recorded statement of a rape victim and her mother despite High Court orders. Communal attacks have also taken place and shops of minority community members were burnt in Barabanki. An incident of attack after forcibly taking out persons of minority community, including women, from a bus where one youth was killed reminds us of communal tendencies which have so far been characteristics of states like Gujarat and Maharashtra , and never seen in UP before.

CPI(ML) CC member and AIALA National Vice President Krishna Adhikari, General Secretary of Jan Sanskriti Manch Ajay Singh, Ex-President of JNU Students' Union Pranay Krishna, AIALA State Secretary Shriram Chaudhary, General Secretary of AISA Sunil Yadav, RYA State President Rakesh Singh, AIPWA's Sunila Rawat, PUHR's Dr. Brij Bihari and many other leaders also accompanied hunger strikers. While Nationalist Congress Party's UP President Ramesh Dixit, All India Muslim Forum's Nihaluddin, Jan Morcha leader Brajendra Pratap Singh, Nationalist Communist Party leader Kaushal Kishore, Sandip Pandey, Arundhati Dhuru, Rakesh Maurya of Indian Justice Party, Salahuddin of Muslim Forum, Ex-MLA Kuber Bhandari, All India Forward Bloc leader Ramkishore and many others addressed the protesters in solidarity. It was demanded to issue Job Cards, red cards, guarantee employment, loan waiver of peasants, tax-free diesel, to give foodgrains to the poor at subsidised rate of Rs. 2 per kg. and kerosine at Rs. 2 per litre. Speakers also demanded proper handling of Dengue and Chikengunya and free treatment and action against police officers not recording statements of Farzana Khatun and her daughter, victims of Mau riots.

In the national capital Delhi , a protest demonstration was held at Parliament Street and an effigy of Mulayam Singh was burnt. A memorandum addressed to the Governor of UP was handed over by Haryana unit of the Party to the Governor of Punjab in Chandigarh demanding immediate withdrawal of cases from the acitivists, issuing red cards to all BPL families and punishing the officials involved in repression of CPI(ML) and AIALA activists. A dharna and protest meeting was held at district headquarters of Mansa in Punjab . An effigy of Mulayam Singh was also burnt in Gwalior in MP on this issue while a protest demonstration and mass meeting was held in front of district headquarters in Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan on October 10.

CPI(ML) Demands Review and Revocation of Death Sentence Against Mohammad Afzal

CPI(ML) has expressed solidarity with the range of individual citizens and democratic groups demanding that the death sentence against Mohammad Afzal be reviewed and revoked.

The Supreme Court has failed to find any evidence linking Afzal with any banned organisation, and has also held that there is no direct evidence against Afzal. Further, Afzal and his wife Tabassum have declared that Afzal was tortured in custody, denied a lawyer of his own choice, and effectively denied a fair trial.

Afzal's own claim that he acted under duress and torture on part of the STF deserves further investigation, since it is likely to unravel the facts about the real perpetrators of the attack on Parliament. The role of the investigative agencies in the Parliament attack case was shown to be shoddy at best and biased and illegal at worst. The way in which these agencies tried to frame an innocent DU teacher, who was subsequently acquitted, is still fresh in public memory. Indian people deserve to know the true facts about who is responsible for the attack on Parliament; the hanging of a man without giving him a chance to defend himself will only serve to stall any thorough and impartial investigation.

The hanging of Maqbul Bhatt in the 1980s sparked off a long phase of unrest and insurgency in Kashmir . If Mohammad Afzal is hanged after being denied a just and fair trial, it will irrevocably jeopardise all efforts to forge peace in Kashmir . The death sentence against Afzal has already sparked off mass outrage in Kashmir . In the interests of Indian democracy and justice, it is imperative that the death sentence against Mohammad Afzal be revoked.

CPI(ML) Condemns UPA Government's Inaction on the Issue of Repeal of AFSPA, Supports Struggle of Sharmila Irom

In a statement to the Press, CPI(ML) expressed its deep consternation at the callous attitude of the UPA Government on the issue of misuse of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the North East. The detention of Sharmila Irom, who has been on hunger strike since 2000 for the repeal of the draconian Act is shameful and deserves the strongest condemnation. The CPI(ML) stands in solidarity with Sharmila's struggle and demands that the Jeevan Reddy Commission Report be made public. The Government is trying to hide the facts brought out by the report since it strongly reccomends the repeal of the Act. CPI(ML) calls upon all democratic and progressive forces to lend support and strength to the struggle of Sharmila and the thousands of martyrs who have relentlessly braved bullets to keep the flame of democracy burning.

CPI(ML) Statement on N. Korea 's Nuke Tests

CPI (ML) expresses grave concern about the nuclear tests by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , which have serious implications for nuclear disarmament. However, it must be emphasised that the existing nuclear order of the NPT – a highly unequal order ruled by the US and based on outright double standards – is hardly conducive to encouraging global non-proliferation and disarmament. With Israel possessing nuclear weapons but staying out of the NPT with the blessings of the US , and with several countries including India and Pakistan having conducted their own nuclear tests, North Korea 's act has plenty of precedence.

North Korea having opted out of the NPT in 2003 was not legally bound to non-proliferation. But these tests on its part will surely be used by the US as a pretext to intensify its aggressive campaign against the so-called ‘axis of evil' of Iran , North Korea and Libya , in the name of punishing violations of IAEA regulations. Such bullying and global policing in the name of a ‘punitive' offensive, and any attempt to seek Security Council sanctions for such an offensive, or to escalate a military conflict, must be staunchly opposed.

India , despite its own record of repeated nuclear tests, has once again displayed its hypocrisy by playing the US game and coming out against North Korea for allegedly violating IAEA regulations. The UPA Government must not be allowed to let the US bend India to its imperialist will, as happened in the case of the vote on Iran in the IAEA.

CPI(ML) Condoles Death of Kanshi Ram

CPI(ML) condoles the demise of Kanshi Ram, the founder leader of the BSP. He will be remembered for his catalytic role in changing the complexion of power-politics in Uttar Pradesh and for imparting a strong sense of strength and identity among the socially oppressed people of India.

However, he abandoned all the radical economic ideas of Ambedkar and tried his best to keep the dalit community away from the very idea of class struggle and the revolutionary politics of social transformation. In the process the BSP has moved closer to the Congress and even entered into power-sharing partnership with the BJP, the most conservative and reactionary representative of the feudal and brahminical forces in India

Although the BSP is steadily moving away from the emancipatory ideas of Ambedkar, no force can prevent the dalits from challenging and transforming the old social and political order in the course of seeking their own improvement and emancipation.

CPI(ML) to Contest Nalanda and Koderma Bypolls

CPI(ML) will contest the by-elections to Nalanda seat in Bihar and Koderma in Jharkhand scheduled on November 6. AIALA National President and former MP from Ara Comrade Rameshwar Prasad will be the candidate for Nalanda, and Jharkhand State Committee member Raj Kumar Yadav will contest the Koderma seat.

CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya has said in a press conference held in Patna that the CPI(ML) would support CPI(M)'s candidate in Bhagalpur if the latter decides to contest not as the joint candidate of UPA combine. CPI(ML) would not in any event support candidates from both the UPA and the NDA . Comrade Dipankar also termed it as ‘political cleverness' of the Congress and said that its so called return to Indira Gandhi's ‘Garibi Hatao' slogan is a ploy to engage in vote bank politics and to decieve the toiling masses. The Congress had in 1970 given this slogan but economic policies of its subsequent governments resulted in the ever-growing number of the poor, he said.

CPI(ML) Condemns Repression of Protesting Peasants in Gharsana

CPI(ML) has strongly condemned the repression of agitating peasants in Gharsana Mandi of Shri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan and expressed its solidarity with peasants struggling against the attack of government policies on Indian agriculture. While the precious water resources of the country are being handed over to the corporates for nothing, the peasants protesting for the water for irrigation are facing state repression in Rajasthan and many other states. Party has demanded to immediately lift the curfew and to fulfil the demands of poor peasants. Party has also also condemned the administration in Shri Ganganagar for not being sympathetic with the peasants' demands otherwise such a situation would have been avoided.

CPI(ML) Calls Bandh in WB against Singur Land Acquisition

The CPI(ML) WB unit called for a day-long bandh on October 9 to condemn the Left Front government's bid to forcibly acquire agricultural lands for Tata's car project in Singur. The demand to take up immediate measures towards the flood affected people in many districts of the state was also raised through this protest. In spite of repeated requests the flood-hit areas in districts like Nadia, Murshidabad, Burdwan, Purulia and Kalna have not received any relief from the state government and the people, especially the poor and agrarian workers are facing a tough time. The party has condemned use of force and heavy deployment of armed forces and demanded restoration of democracy in Singur. The West Bengal Govt. is adamant to such an extent, to give land to the Tatas, that a school was turned into a police camp and declared closed for the students despite heavy opposition. The Govt. wants to force the unwilling peasants to accept the compensation cheques. CPI(ML) State Secretary Kartik Pal has said that the Party would oppose this anti-people move and continue its agitation for the villagers of Singur.