Hostage-taking and the Adivasis

The Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) urges the CPI (Maoist) to ensure that no harm comes to V Krishna, collector, Malkangiri district of Orissa as well as Pavitra Mohan Majhi, a junior engineer taken hostage by them.

We wish to also state that hostage-taking is a condemnable act and linking demands with the release of captives is an unacceptable way to draw public attention to the plight of the adivasis. We believe that it tends to belittle the legitimate grievances which people have against the authorities who have launched “Operation Greenhunt” in the country’s adivasi areas.