South Asia Terrorism Portal

Maoists: Civilian Slaughters
Deepak Kumar Nayak
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

On June 5, 2019, Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres had beaten a youth to death and injured another at Budha Pahad hill under Bhandariya Police Station in Garhwa District of Jharkhand, on suspicion of being ‘police informer’. The deceased, identified as Jitendra Kisan (25), was a resident of Khapari Mahua village, while the injured, Dilip Tirkey, was a resident of Khura village, both under the Bhandariya Police Station.  

On June 1, 2019, CPI-Maoist cadres shot dead a civilian, identified as Dileep, branding him a ‘police informer’, in the Lohardaga District of Jharkhand. According to the Police, the Maoists had abducted Dileep from his house in Bulbul village in the District in the night of May 31. His bullet riddled body was found on the next day. The Maoists had threatened him earlier, branding him a ‘police informers’, following which, the victim had taken shelter in a Police Station. He had returned to his village four or five days prior to his killing. 

On the same day, CPI-Maoist cadres hacked to death a civilian, identified as Chhannu Sodhi (30) in the Bastar District of Chhattisgarh, branding him a ‘police informer’. Sodhi had gone to the Bastanar weekly market under the Kodenar Police Station area of the District. A local Police officer disclosed that Sodhi was attacked by a 'small action team' of Maoists (typically comprising four or five cadres) with axes, leaving him dead on the spot.

On May 7, 2019, a civilian identified as Kadti Ganga (35), a resident of Maraiguda village under Errabor Police Station limits in the Sukma District of Chhattisgarh, was thrashed to death by CPI-Maoist cadres, who branded him a ‘police informer’. Armed Naxals [Left Wing Extremists, LWEs] on the intervening night of May 6 and 7, stormed into Ganga’s house and took him away. On the morning of the next day, his body was found nearby along with a hand written note bearing Konta area committee CPI-Maoist signature which warned, “Kadti Ganga was killed by Naxal of PLGA (People's Liberation Guerrilla Army). If anyone in the village is working for the Police, then they must stop doing so or else they will be also killed.”

These incidents are neither a new development nor indicative of any significant shift in Maoist strategy. These are just the latest among many such incidents in which the Maoists have killed the civilians on the pretext that Police informers. 

According to partial data compiled by South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), the Maoists have executed at least 22 civilians, (eight in Maharashtra, five in Chhattisgarh, four in Odisha, three in Bihar, and two in Jharkhand), branding them ‘police informers’, out of the 37 civilians killed in Naxal-related incidents across the country, in 2019 (all data till June 9, 2019). In the corresponding period of 2018, at least 35 civilians were executed (18 in Chhattisgarh, eight in Jharkhand, three each in Bihar and Odisha, two in Maharashtra, and one in Telangana) as a ‘police informers’. In the remaining period of 2018, another 26 civilians were executed (12 in Chhattisgarh, four Odisha, three each in Bihar and Maharashtra, two in Jharkhand, and one each in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana). A total of 109 civilians were killed in Naxal-related incidents across the country through 2018, of which 61 were executed.

With the increasing effectiveness of specific intelligence based operations by SFs, and the Maoists losing ground, the orchestration of such killings (accusing/branding/ labelling/ suspecting of civilians of being ‘police informers’) are intended to have a deterrent effect against any attempt to ‘spy’ on Maoists activities and movements, or to help the Police in any other manner.

In order to create an atmosphere of terror among civilians in Naxal-affected areas, the Maoists declare various sentences against civilians allegedly loyal to the State or who do not subscribe to their ideology or do not yield to their diktats in areas of their dominance. For instance, the Naxalites hold ‘jan adalats’ also called ‘praja courts’ (‘people’s court’, an euphemism for a Maoist kangaroo court), where they accuse their adversaries as ‘police informer’ or of other crimes, and inflict punishment, including brutal killings, in the presence of the villagers, creating an atmosphere of terror. Jharkhand has recorded the highest number, 62, of such barbaric executions by the Maoists during between 2004 and 2019; followed by Odisha, 58; Chhattisgarh, 54; Bihar, 32; West Bengal, 18; Maharashtra, 16; Andhra Pradesh, seven; and Uttar Pradesh, one.

According to an April 7, 2019, report, Azaad, the spokesperson for the CPI-Maoist Bihar-Jharkhand Special Area Committee (BJSAC), claimed,

However, contradictory to the claim, the number of such ‘jan adalats’ decreased to two in the current year (data till June 9, 2019) as compared to seven in the corresponding period of 2018. There were 13 such ‘jan adalats’ through 2018. According to partial data compiled by SATP, since September 21, 2004, at least 103 ‘jan adalats’ have been held by the Maoists in eight Naxal-affected States: Andhra Pradesh (eight), Bihar (12), Chhattisgarh (28), Jharkhand (17), Madhya Pradesh (one), Maharashtra (one), Odisha (27) and West Bengal (nine).

An overview of LWE-linked fatalities indicates that, as many as 721 alleged ‘police informers’, out of 3,203 civilians were killed across the country by the Maoists since September 21, 2004, when CPI-Maoist was formed (data till June 9, 2019).

Geographical distribution of such executions indicates that, since the formation of CPI-Maoist, Chhattisgarh has registered at least 161 fatalities of civilians labeled as ‘police informers’. It is ranked first among 11 States, where such fatalities were registered over this period. Odisha, with 157 such fatalities ranked second; Jharkhand, with 129, ranked third; Andhra Pradesh, with 87, ranked fourth; Maharashtra, with 83, ranked fifth; West Bengal, with 53, sixth; Bihar, with 40, seventh; Telangana, with six, eighth; Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, with two each, a joint ninth; and Karnataka with one such fatality, eleventh. 

Notably, the trend in overall fatalities indicates that the security of the civilian population is gradually improving. At the peak of Maoist violence in the country in 2010, 626 civilians were killed. Since then, civilian fatalities have registered a declining, though cyclical, trend. There was a spike in 2013 with 159 civilian fatalities, after 146 recorded in 2012. Civilian fatalities declined to 128 in 2014 and 93 in 2015, and spiked to 123 in 2016. 2017 and 2018 went on to register 109 civilian fatalities each, while 37 fatalities have been recorded in this category in the current year, thus far (data till June 9, 2019).

The setbacks that SFs have inflicted on the Maoists, have forced the extremists out of their strongholds across most of their areas of erstwhile dominance. While the Maoist struggle to counter-attack, killing civilians suspected of collaborating with the Police demonstrates, at once, a progressive loss of control over local populations as well as the growing frustration in rebel ranks.

Hardening Faultlines
S. Binodkumar Singh
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

On June 3, 2019, all nine Muslim Ministers and two Muslim Provincial Governors of Sri Lanka resigned, as the fragile Buddhist-majority country grappled with the communal backlash of the Easter Sunday bombings which killed as many as 253 people. The Ministers who resigned include Cabinet Ministers Kabir Hashim, Rauff Hakeem, M.H.A. Haleem and Rishad Bathiudeen; State Ministers Faizal Cassim, H.M.M. Harees, Ameer Ali Shihabdeen and Seyed Ali Zahir Moulana; and Deputy Minister Abdullah Mahrooff. The two Governors who resigned were Azath Salley, Governor of the Western Province and M.L.A.M. Hizbullah, Governor of the Eastern Province. There were 19 Muslim lawmakers in the 225-member Parliament and nine of them – all of whom resigned – held Ministerial positions.

The resignations were in response to a hunger strike by Member of Parliament (MP) Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thero, a prominent Buddhist monk, who began fasting on May 31, 2019, in front of the iconic Buddhist temple Dalada Maligawa in Kandy, with five demands, including the resignation of Minister Rishad Bathiudeen and the two Governors, whom he accused of having ties with the suicide bombers who had targeted churches and hotels on April 21. A crowd of about 10,000 Buddhists held demonstration at the famous temple on June 3, 2019, raising anti-Muslim slogans. Shops and offices remained closed in the city, while black flags were raised in support of Rathana.

Since the Easter Sunday bombings, tensions have increased between the majority Sinhala community, which constitute 75 percent of Sri Lanka's population, and Muslims who, at 9.7 percent, consider themselves to be a distinct ethnic group in the country. Muslims live in fear after a wave of attacks by Buddhist hardliners swept across wide areas in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday bombings. In spite of a state of emergency on May 12 and 13, Sinhala mobs rampaged through at least 24 towns in western Sri Lanka, looting and attacking Muslim properties with stones, swords and petrol bombs. According to an assessment by local charities, the mobs killed one Muslim, wounded at least another 14 and destroyed over 540 Muslim-owned houses, shops and mosques, as well as nearly 100 vehicles.

Explaining the resignations, Rauff Hakeem, the former Minister of City Planning, Water Supply and Higher Education observed, on June 6, 2019,

On June 5, 2019, former Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen had stressed that he did not resign for fear of the no-confidence motion against him, but to prevent communal clashes between the Sinhala and Muslim communities.

On June 4, 2019, the Police Headquarters set up a committee consisting of a Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and two Superintendents of Police (SP) to obtain complaints against Rishad Bathiudeen and former Governors M.L.A.M. Hizbullah and Azath Salley. The committee will accept written complaints until June 12, 2019. As of June 6, 2019, the three-member committee had received four complaints. Three complaints were received against Bathiudeen, while one compliant was lodged against Salley. The committee received its first complaint on June 5, and the other three on June 6.

The responsibility for the coordinated Easter Sunday bombings was claimed by the Islamic State (IS or Daesh) on April 23, 2019, by its official news outlet Amaq News Agency, which released a video showing the Sri Lanka attackers pledging allegiance to Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. However, on May 1, 2019, 10 days after the attacks, Sri Lanka Police named all nine Easter Sunday suicide bombers as local residents – Zahran Hashim, Ilham Ahmed Mohamed Ibrahim, Inshaf Ahmed, Mohamed Azzam Mubarak Mohamed, Ahmed Muaz, Mohamed Hasthun, Mohamed Nasser Mohamed Asad, Abdul Latheef and Fathima Ilham – tracing all nine to two jihadist organisations, National Thawheed Jamaath (NTJ) and Jamathei Millathu Ibrahim (JMI).

On April 22, 2019, in order to maintain public security and essential services, President Maithripala Sirisena, in a gazette notification, declared a State of Emergency across Sri Lanka. Under the Emergency Regulations, he banned NTJ and JMI on April 27. Further, under the emergency regulations, Muslim women in Sri Lanka were not allowed to wear face veils in public from April 29. On May 5, to prevent the spread of false information following a tense situation, access to social media applications, Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber etc., was temporarily suspended. On May 22, the President issued another special gazette notification, extending the Emergency Regulations for another month. On June 3, Police Media Spokesman SP Ruwan Gunasekara, speaking at a media briefing, disclosed that 2,289 persons had been arrested after the Easter Sunday suicide attacks. Among them, 423 persons had been remanded and another 211 were being detained at Police Stations for questioning, while 1,655 persons had been released on bail.

Meanwhile, admitting that the country suffered due to a gap in sharing of security information and intelligence, Sri Lanka's Army Commander Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake, on May 2, 2019, urged the public to have confidence in the Armed Forces. On May 29, the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) appointed to inquire into the terrorist attacks on April 21 met for the first time at the Parliament Complex. Defence Secretary Shantha Kottegoda and National Intelligence Chief Sisira Mendis gave evidence before the PSC. National Intelligence Chief, Sisira Mendis testifying before the PSC told that though he briefed the then Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando on the impending terrorist attack, the National Security Council (NSC) had not met till the coordinated suicide bombings of April 21. According to Mendis, the NSC last met on February 19, 2019. In the wake of the suicide bombings, President Sirisena appointed Shantha Kottegoda as the Defence Secretary on April 21, succeeding Hemasiri Fernando. Testifying before PSC, Kottegoda stated, “Since 2014, there had been information about the banned extremist outfit National Thawheed Jamaath, but I don’t know how that information was acted upon.” He further disclosed that sharing of intelligence information needed to be strengthened, as lapses and lack of systematic coordination may have led to a breakdown in sharing of information. On June 8, 2019, President Maithripala Sirisena dismissed Mendis, after he indicated that the leader was aware of the Easter bombings.

Confirming that the NSC last met on February 19, 2019, former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, giving evidence before the PSC on June 6, disclosed that NSC had been convened four times after he assumed duties as Defence Secretary – on November 13, 2018; December 3, 2018; January 4, 2019 and February 19, 2019. The PSC was appointed on May 23, 2019, to probe and report to Parliament on the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks after Rishad Bathiudeen, addressing Parliament on May 10, 2019, called for a PSC to clear his name of the allegations against him in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday bombings. Bathiudeen asserted, “The people who make allegations against me knowingly or unknowingly safeguard the real terrorists and fundamentalists. Their actions result in me highlighted while the attention on the real terrorists shifts. We are strong believers of Islam. Allah does not approve terrorism or fundamentalism.”

On June 5, 2019, in order to restore stability in the country, leading Chief Prelates and the Maha Sangha of the three main Buddhist chapters held a special discussion at the Asgiriya Maha Viharaya. The Prelates held a lengthy discussion on the prevailing situation in the country and drafted a 15-point proposal to restore stability. The Chief Prelate of Asgiriya Chapter, the Most Venerable Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana Thera presided over the discussion. Speaking to the media, the Anunayake of the Malwatte Chapter, Venerable Niyangoda Vijithasiri Thera, observed, “We think the departure of the Muslim Ministers from the Government should not have happened. Therefore, we request those Muslim leaders to return to the administration and resume their responsibilities.” The Thera also said that if the challenges are not well understood and remedial action taken, external influences will enter the country and the hard earned peace and economic stability will be lost, with disastrous consequences.

Meanwhile, on June 3, 2019, President Sirisena urged all communities in the country to work together to resolve the communal issues and ensure peace, and noted, “If conflicts arise due to different ethnicities, the country will be doomed and all should work together with mutual understanding and contribute in ensuring the peace of the country.” Similarly, cautioning that raising anti-Muslim communalism would only support Islamic State terrorism, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe pointed out on June 4, 2019, “The Muslim community was together with us during the 30-year war. If the whole Muslim community is pushed away because of a few who were misled, then the task of eliminating ISIS terrorism will become much more difficult.” The Premier further stated that, for the first time since independence, Sri Lanka has a Government that does not have a Minister from the Muslim community. Although few people are happy about it, this is not to the advantage of the country.

The mass resignation of nine Muslim Ministers and two Governors in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday blasts has deepened fault lines in Sri Lanka. NTJ, the group behind the blasts, which included suicide bombers and was led by the radical preacher Zahran Hashim, has been dismantled. Moreover, hundreds have been arrested and the plot possibly inspired by the Islamic State has been unravelled. The Government has initiated action against many of those who failed to act on advance intelligence, and ongoing investigations are likely to bring others to account.

Sri Lanka’s tragedy can only be compounded by the communal targeting of Muslims. Having emerged from a destructive civil war the Island nation needs to focus on rebuilding inter-ethnic trust and ushering in a new egalitarian order. It will be ill-served by a conflict between the Buddhists and Muslims.