Thursday, June 28, 2012

Italian tourists abducted by Maoists in Odisha

The piece came in Delhi Talks, a monthly magazine published from New Delhi in April 2012 issue

Italian tourists abducted by Maoists in Odisha


Pradeep Baisakh

In a rather unconventional manoeuvre the red rebels of Odisha have kidnapped two Italian tourists from the deep jungles of Kandhamal district while they were there for trekking. In an audio tape sent to media houses, the Secretary, Odisha state organising committee of CPI (Maoist), Sabyasachi Panda, popularly known as Sunil, charged the tourists of taking objectionable photos of the tribal women. This is for the first time the Maoists have taken any foreigners as hostage. The two tourists are Bosusco Paolo and Claudio Colangelo. While Bosusco has been visiting and staying in Puri town of Puri district for last twenty years,  Claudio Colangelo has visited for the first time to India. Both went inside the jungle without the permission of the local police. The incidence took place on 14th March 2012.
 Photo: File photo of Bosusco Paolo somewhere in a forest
This is the second such high profile abduction by the rebels in Odisha. In February 2011 District Magistrate of Malkanagiri R Vineel Krishna was kidnapped from a remote village in the district while he was on his official tour. This time a 13 point demand has been issued for release of the foreigners. Among others the rebels have demanded the release of Subhashree Panda, the wife of Sunil, Gananath Patra, stopping operation green hunt, banning tourist visits to tribal areas,  etc. Subhashree Panda was arrested in 2010 under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for alleged involvement in terror activities. Charges against her have already been quashed by the High Court.

The event sent thrillers to the state and central government and the Italian embassy was quick to send its consul general Joel Melchiori to Bhubaneswar, the state capital to ensure release of the hostages. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik appealed the Maoists to release the foreigners on humanitarian ground and expressed his readiness for talks with the outlawed group, while the Home Minister P Chidambaram offered central government help to deal with the matter. The state assembly unanimously passed resolution appealing for safe release of the hostages. This also comes in a time while the India-Italian relationship is going strained owing to the arrest of two Italian marines by Indian police in charges of killing two fishermen. India government has spurned the Italian government’s request to release them.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cited the incidence in the parliemant to strengthen his case for NCTC (National Counter terrorism Centre).

Maoists suggested names of three persons for mediation on their behalf. They are Dandapani Mohanty, Biswapriya Kanungo, Independent Lawyer and Prafulla Samantra, Social activist. But Kanungo and Samantra did not agree to negotiate. So the name of Dr B D Sharma, retd IAS officer and former chairperson of SC/ST Commission was suggested by the Maoists. Dandapani Mohanty was one among the key interlocutors in the Collector release case last year. The state government has nominated three officials for holding talks. They are U. N. Behera, Home Secretary, Pradeep Jena, Secretary, Panchayati Raj and Santosh Sarangi, Secretary, SC/ST dept. The talks commenced on 21st March.

In the mean time, the negotiators demanded the presence of some Maoists leaders in the city to facilitate the talks. Names suggested are of Narayan Sanyal, Kobad Gandhi and Amit Bagchi. All of them are in different jails in some charge or others, brining them to Odisha would need the intervention by the ministry of Home Affairs, GoI. While the names were okay with the Odisha Maoist leader, the state government was not willing to accept the suggestion. Sources suggest that the Chief Minister was not willing to request the Home Ministry for the same. The government hoped that all final settlement that may be agreed upon by Dr Sharma and Mohanty would be accepted by the Maoists.

Talks suspeneded - sincerity missing
Sincerity for talks was seemingly missing from both the sides. Just before the talks, the Maoist ranks declared unilateral ceasefire to create an ambience of talks. The government also reciprocated by halting any anti-extremist operations in the state. However, there were media reports that the security agencies used Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAVs) for surveillance in the Daringbadi and Kotgarh area where the hostages are believed to have been kept. A case was registered by the Kandhamal police against Sunil and other leaders of Maoist ranks on the kidnapping matter. On the other hand, just after the beginning of the talks, a Sub Inspector was killed by Maoists in the Malkanagiri district.  And on 23rd March night, when the talks were inching toward some outcome, the Maoists have abducted the Laxmipur (Koraput district) MLA Khina Hikaka in wee hours while he was returning from Semiliguda after a party meeting was over. B D Sharma who said earlier that the talks were in progress and some solution may emerge soon, expressed his unwillingness for continuing the talks after the abduction incidence. Speaking to the media both the interlocutors said that let all the three hostages be released by the Maoist first and then negotiation could resume. The interlocutors also criticised the government for breaking conditions.  

Division among Maoists ranks?

The killing of the sub-inspector and abduction of the MLA is done by the southern region Maoists ranks that are in control of Andhra command. In the Collector’s abduction case last year, mostly the telugu Maoist cadres were benefited, not the Odia cadres. Sabyasachi Panda is in command with the central region including Kandhamal, Gajapati and Ganjam, part of Rayagada districts. This time, it is he who wanted to call the shot and demanded the release of mostly the Odia Maoist cadres. Nihar Nayak from Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA), an expert on Maoism said “The abduction of foreigners seem not to have been approved by the central committee of the Maoists as no comments has come from them till now. This may have been done by Panda as part of his personal interest which could be interpreted from the demands he has made.  Moreover, any abduction of any Odia person would have brought unpopularity to him inside the state. From that view point taking the foreigners as hostages was safe for him.”

With the talks failing, the fate of the Italian tourists enters into the zone of uncertainty.
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Pradeep Baisakh is an Odisha based journalist. He can be reached through e mail: 2006pradeep@gmail.com