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Journalism of Courage
With the Naveen Patnaik government announcing that it was ready to release 27 Maoist rebels and their supporters in exchange for Italian tour operator Paulo Basusco and BJP MLA Jhina Hikaka,the family members of policemen slain by the rebels on Friday expressed shock and outrage over it.
Since 2006,160 personnel from the state police and central forces have been killed in anti-Maoist fight in Orissa.
Wife of police sub-inspector Ajit Bardhan,who was abducted and killed by Maoists while on patrol duty in Sundargarh in July 2009,said the governments move would set a wrong precedent. Though we know the lives of the MLA and the Italian tour operator are equally important,the governments response to the abduction would lead to further blackmail. This is not good, said Rosalin Bardhan,wife of the slain sub-inspector.
Rosalins was pregnant when her husband was killed.
Prabhati Mishra,wife of slain inspector Sarat Chandra Mishra,said the government has to decide whether it would give in to the Maoist ransom or take a final call to stop such acts. Mishra was killed in July 2008 along with 16 other policemen when the mine protected vehicle in which they were travelling was blown off by a landmine in Malkangiri district.
My husband was a brave man. He himself killed more than 10 Maoists. So when I hear that the government is compromising with the Maoists,I feel bad. It lowers the morale of all policemen who are fighting the Maoists, said Prabhati,who now runs a tribal residential school in Malkangiri town in the memory of her late husband.
I know the government has no other way than to release the Maoists to save the lives of the MLA and the Italian. But the release of Maoists is no solution to the problem, she said.
Prabhati said when a Maoist or their sympathizer is killed,there is much outrage,but when a policeman is killed or a civilian is killed on the suspicion that he was a police informer,no one talks of human right violations. I feel the government needs to be determined to end the scourge of Maoist violence.
The wife of Pramod Satpathy,the assistant commandant of elite anti-Maoist Special Operation Group,who was killed while fighting the Maoists during the February 2008 Nayagarh armoury raid is also livid. I have lost my husband forever. Now I dont want others to lose their near and dear. But at the same time I feel angry when the government talks about release of Maoists, said Amita Satpathy.
