EXPRESS TRAIN HIJACKED- ONE MORE NAXAL ATTACK

After 5 dramatic hours the Delhi bound Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express was freed from Maoist-backed tribal activists (NAXALS) who held the train hostage at a station in West Bengal's West Midnapore district on Tuesday.
Timeline of the Rajdhani crisis:
2.30 pm: Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express passes Banstala station in West Midnapore district. The train was stopped by around 500 tribals armed with bows and arrows. They took over the driver’s cabin and surrounded the train. They then took the driver to a nearby area.
4.00 pm: Security forces begin firing at the tribals.
4.30 pm: Negotiations begin between tribals and Railway officials. Tribals give food and water to the passengers in the train.
5.00 pm: Firing exchanged between the two sides.
6.00 pm: Central forces manage to reach the area and the tribals begin retreating.
7:00 pm: Security forces take full control of the train. The tribals flee into the jungles.
8.00 pm: Relieved train leaves Kharagpur with doctors onboard the train.



"The train had just crossed Jhargram station and was passing through a densely forested patch when a large mob attacked it with stones," passenger Susanta Das said.


"The mob, armed with axes, swords, bows and arrows, smashed the glass panes and forcibly opened the doors as the passengers panicked.


"All of us were asked to get down which we did. We thought they would loot us. But they did not harm anybody after we followed their orders," Das, a wildlife enthusiast who was on his way to Himachal Pradesh to join an expedition, told PTI.


Most of the passengers reportedly thought them to be dacoits. The train, which left Bhubaneswar around 0900 hrs IST, reached Kharagpur at about 1400 hrs IST. The incident occurred about half an hour later, he said.


"Initially, we also did not know that a bandh was on in the area and we also had no idea why the train stopped," Das said, adding the attackers initially appeared to be in a violent mood, but calmed down as the passengers obeyed their orders.


Another passenger Subodh Tripathy said after the train was stopped, the passengers locked themselves in. But the doors were forcibly opened by the agitators.

This is very bad new for tourist and travellers in general. Since the roads in India are more than unsafe due to the status of the street and the chaotic and suicide- like driving- style of the average Indian, now the dirty and unhygienic but up to now safe means of transport is now under questions. What remains is flying, but not all cities are reachable and other cities like Dehradun or Nashik haave only one flight per day, served by adventurous small propeller machines.
What are Naxals ? ( will come in the next post)

PEACEFULL HINDHI & THE CHRISTIAN MASSACRES

30 September 2008
The attacks on Christian continue in Kandhamal on Tuesday after rampaging Hindi killed one person and injured 15 in a pre-dawn raid on three villages in Ghumusar Udaygiri. Two churches and around 70 houses were also damaged as tribal Kandhs continued their attacks on Pana Christians, fuelled by ethnic and communal reasons.
In the latest attack, around 1,000 armed tribals swooped on three villages, Rudangia, Gadaguda and Telingia spread over a radius of 5km in Udaygiri block, and targeted Pana-Dalits who have embraced Christianity, said an official source.
The mobs desecrated two churches, torched and razed over 70 houses and brutally assaulted around 15 people.
A woman, Ramani Naik (50), of Rudangia, died on the spot. The official death toll has now gone up to 32. The condition of nine others is said to be serious and they have been shifted to the MKCG medical college at Berhampur, in Ganjam.
Three of those injured have bullet injuries. Eight people, including two women, have been arrested in connection with the incident. The attack came hours after three crude bombs were set off near a relief camp on Monday.



30 September 2008
BHUBANESWAR : violenceagainst Christians continue: One woman was axed to death and 10 people were wounded on Sept. 30 as the Hindu radical violence entered a sixth week, reported UCA News.

The killing raised the number of confirmed deaths to 47 in the violence that began in the eastern Indian state on Aug. 24.
The attackers came with petrol bombs, swords, axes and knives, and "brutally attacked sleeping families," said the priest, who left the parish for safety after the anti-Christian pogrom began. An 8-year-old boy and his mother are among those critically injured in the attack that began around 4 a.m., said the priest, who now stays in the state capital of Bhubaneswar, some 1,745 kilometers southeast of New Delhi.
Father Parichha said Catholics and Protestants in the villages did not expect the attacks because most families there are Christian. About 35 of Rudangia's 40 families belong to Christian Churches and denominations, while Gadaguda has 25 Christian and five Hindu families.
The burning is still continuing. There is no one to stop them. People are fleeing for their life," the priest told UCA News at 11 a.m., just hours after the attacks.

29 September 2008
A Catholic in the Phiringia area was critically injured when Hindu radicals tortured him after he refused to denounce his faith. The man is now hospitalized,

28 Sept. 2008
Three bodies, including that of a woman, were fished out of the Salunki River in Phulbani, headquarters of Kandhamal district, 350 kilometers west of Bhubaneswar. On the same day, 30 Catholic houses in the Daringabadi area were attacked, looted and set on fire. The attackers also reportedly feasted on some livestock. These attacks cannot happen without the support of the local Hindu families, the hatred has several roots, including jealousy over Christians' progress and the desire to possess Christian farmland.
The violence also has displaced an estimated 50,000 people, who are now hiding in forests, living in state-run relief camps or staying with relatives in cities and towns outside the troubled areas.

29 Septemer 2008
Crude bombs were brought to explosioan on Monday at two places and houses burned in Kandhmal and two crude bombs exploded in separate incidents at Baliguda and K Nuagaon areas on Sunday night, five houses were reportedly torched under Gochhapada police station area in Phirigia block. Theblasts were intended to create panic and not kill. The Gochhapada house damage issue is said to have stemmed from ethnic considerations with tribal Kandhs baying for Dalit Panas' blood.
Reports from various parts of the district said blasts were directed at relief camps where Christian families, who have been targetted by Hindu activists.
The official toll in the religious violence rose to 31 with the administration confirming recovery of one more body from Badasalunki river at Bisipada village near Phulbani.

28 September 2008
Sunday, police found the body of Priyatamma Digal, an auxillary nursing and midwife (ANM) worker, from the river. On Monday, the body of Meghanath, Priyatamma's husband, was fished out. The couple was killed last Thursday.

WILD ELEPHANTS SAVING BY ELEPHANT SHOW

Nowadays only 4 % of the Indian surface is suitable for wild elephants; the decline is mainly due to the destruction of the forest habitats to make place for agriculture, cities, villages and the related infrastructures and hydrothermal plans
Poaching with ivory as the goal is still an item but is not the major reason of the killing of wild elephants. Villagers and tribal are increasingly encroaching in on forest land, forcing wild elephants to come closer and closer into the villages, killing over 100 people each year just by simple walking over them.
The villager’s tactics is to make fences from electric pylons all around the village. Instead of using a low power high voltage electrical fence has used in the west for keeping the cattle in the parks, they use the full 220 V, I assume with a rupee coin as fuse. This is not only extremely dangerous for their compatriots but for all other animals.
A dozen of elephants have been killed in the last few years, conservationist says.
Manindra Biswas postulate: “ The objective of using trained Elephants to simulate electrocutation scenarios is to generate sympathy for their wild friends.
The play open with six elephants looking tense after sniffing gunfire. One elephant walks up to the electrical wire, touches and crumples into a miserable heap. This starring role is played by Mainak the most talented elephant of the crew. Than the five elephants desperately try to revive their fallen hero and have the final act the crew salute their lost friends and walk away slowly and desperately with (crocodile?) tears in their eyes.
Hundreds of villagers have enjoyed the free play and understand without any dougt the moral of the story. An we all hope it helps, although I have the impression that is would be better to explain to these villagers and tribal how a real electrical cattle fence is build up by using a transformer and a big condenser in a way that all animals get only frightened but not killed. The actual situation is that from 50,000 wild elephants a century ago the population dropped now to 21,000 all mainly living in reserves.