Both sides — the Maoists and the State — are waging a dirty war. Between ’the violence of the oppressed’ and an often brutal state, a powerful intervention spelling out a practical basis for a durable ceasefire remains elusive.
Shouldn’t democratic rights activists examine the impact of escalating
the conflict on the local civilian population? After the attack,
villages close to it emptied, as their inhabitants fled fearing
reprisals. This could have been foreseen. Is provoking such
‘collateral damage’ justifiable? Moreover, the deaths of rank-and-file
combatants, all of whom come from the poorer strata of society, are
surely also of some concern to civil society groups?