The Indian state’s military and paramilitary forces carried out a new series of killings against the Adivasis on July 3 in the Ghamandi forest, Narayanpur district in Chhattisgarh. These were condemned by the Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization (FACAM).

Reports reached FACAM said that paramilitary forces suddenly invaded fired indiscriminately on the area and in the adjacent Ghamandi forest. They rained bullets from morning till night. Four residents were killed in the shooting and five others were injured. Those killed were identified as Kondha, Ghasi, Edma and Manglu.

Manglu is an Adivasi farmer who was the breadwinner of his family. According to his fellow villagers, he was inside the house when paramilitary elements opened fire. He ran to escape but was hit. He died from his wounds.

FACAM said villagers and witnesses strongly asserted that there was no encounter between the People’s Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA) of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and paramilitaries, contrary to claims by state armed forces.

In a statement by the CPI (Maoist) Maad Division, it said that no fighters were killed and no encounter took place in the said community that day.

Meanwhile, state armed forces arrested least 90 Adivasis in Usur, Bijapur in Bastar district. They were accused of being members or supporters of the CPI (Maoist).

“The state’s pattern of operation is clear here. Adivasi farmers are red-tagged by the state and then presented as criminals, ignoring their civil rights…they may be arrested or worse, killed,” FACAM statement.

These attacks on the Adivasis are part of Operation Kagaar, a military operation being implemented by the reactionary central and state governments of India. Its implementation started in January in parts of Central India against the armed struggle led by the CPI (Maoist). This is part of the larger counter-insurgency operation Operation SAMADHAN-Prahar that was launched in 2017.