AID Calls for Peace Initiatives From All Sides in Chhattisgarh
June 6 th
Seattle , WA
Association for India's Development is deeply worried about the escalating cycle of violence and human casualties in the conflict between state security forces, Salwa Judum and the CPI(Maoist) in Chhattisgarh. We strongly urge all parties to cease the violence immediately and create a conducive environment for honest and sincere peace talks . The peace talks should actively involve all affected sections of people and the civil society. Only peace within a framework of justice is self-sustaining.
We believe that in order to move towards a peace process it is essential to achieve the following:
1) Restoration of the democratic space in Chhattisgarh by stopping the intimidation of human rights activists, full freedom of the press to report without fear.
2) Demilitarization of the southern districts with the simultaneous restoration of basic services like schools, PDS outlets and Anganwadis. Disbanding of Salwa Judum.
3) An acknowledgement that there are over 3 lakh internally displaced people and their rehabilitation is a priority of the state.
4) Adivasis should be free to file FIRs against perpetrators of violence whether they are state or non-state actors and the cases should be followed up diligently by the judiciary.
5) Immediate implementation of Forests Rights Act of 2006, and making public of the MoU signed between the Govt. of Chhattisgarh and MNCs since 2005.
We reiterate our call to all sides to cease violence and come to the dialogue table before more lives are lost.
The above resolution was passed in AID's annual conference on May 30th, 2010 in Seattle, WA.
Contact :
Tathagata Sengupta [email protected] 6178005082
Somnath Mukherji [email protected] 7816481910
