People Want Peace
In the last year, South Asia lost two stalwart peace activists and human rights defenders, with the deaths of Karamat Ali (June 2024) and Tapan Bose (February 2025). Their rich lives were informed by their commitment to pluralism and justice, principles that are being torn asunder by current dispensations.

Among Karamat’s and Tapan’s many endeavours, both were also active members of the grassroots people-to-people initiative, Pakistan-India-People’s Democracy (PIPFPD), which was founded in 1995. The PIPFPD has brought together human rights activists, cultural workers, trade unionists, feminist rights groups, lawyers, teachers and businessmen, representing a wide spectrum of civil society from India and Pakistan in what is known as ‘Track 2 diplomacy’, engaging common people in India and Pakistan in peace efforts to overcome war hysteria and military conflicts engineered by the rulers.

In these times, it is more important than ever for these initiatives to be more widely known. People want peace!!!

To quote Arundhati Roy: “Pakistan and India are not at war, but their governments are. Their business communities, film industries, and people are not fighting each other. This war is actually a drama created by the ruling elite on both sides, which benefits from fear and hatred. The Indian and Pakistani elite keep nationalism and the Kashmir issue alive to divert their people’s attention from poverty, inequality, and government failures and atrocities.”
CERAS
(Centre sur l’asie du sud)

A Warning Call
22nd May, 2025: It is exactly a month since the terror attack at Pahalgam shook the nation, leading to widespread condemnation of the massacre and forces enabling such mindless violence. The cold-blooded gunning down of 25 Indian nationals and 1 Nepali citizen on 22nd of April, by a handful of armed terrorists at Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam, a popular tourist destination in Jammu and Kashmir, shattered the lives of numerous families.

It remains a painful puzzle to this day as to how the armed assailants were able to enter the area undetected, wilfully select victims and leave undetected after one of the most heinous acts of terror by non-state actors in the region in recent years. Joining all democratic organizations across the country, NAPM resolutely denounced these brutal killings, protested and mourned the loss of lives of innocent civilians. Nothing can lessen the pain and trauma that their families have been subject to. They deserve all support and solidarity, in their quest for justice.

This exceptionally tragic incident is rife with security lapses for which the Indian people remain without answers, even a month later! Kashmir is the most militarised zone on earth. This has effectively curtailed basic democratic rights in Kashmir in the name of fighting terror and bringing “development” to the valley. The major security lapse in Pahalgam exposes the shortcomings of the securitisation centric approach.

In the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor there have been over 100 recorded incidents of intimidation, assault, and hate speech by Hindutva vigilantes.

NAPM demands a thorough investigation be conducted and its findings be made public at the earliest.

The interests of both the Pakistani security establishment (de facto rulers of Pakistan) and the Hindutva regime in power in India, are inimical to the interests of common people on either side of the border. In light of the political challenge these events throw up, it is necessary for democratic and progressive forces both in India and Pakistan and across South Asia, to organise and strengthen robust anti-war movements.
National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM)

Basavaraj
Basavaraj (Nambala Keshav Rao) will forever stand as a shining bloodstained star in India’s revolutionary struggle. He worked among the oppressed for the liberation of the people, dedicated his life to India’s revolutionary transformation, dreamed of new democracy, socialism, and communism, and lived among the poorest and most deprived masses to turn those dreams into reality. He ultimately fell prey to the state’s forces, becoming a martyr. Along with Basavaraj nearly thirty other activists were also martyred.

This killing occurred after the Maoist party had unilaterally declared a ceasefire to pave the way for peace talks with the central government. In this context, the approach of the Home Department–which orchestrated the encounter that killed Basavaraj–is utterly illegal, immoral, and steeped in cowardly deceit. This is a murder carried out for the sake of mining tycoons and corporates looting mineral-rich forests.

The martyrdom of these communist revolutionaries is part of the ongoing military operation “Operation Kagar,” a continuation of the infamous “Operation Green Hunt”–the brutal anti-Maoist campaign that began during Manmohan Singh’s tenure and even drew criticism from the Supreme Court.

Today, the poorest Adivasis of Central India–Chhattisgarh, Bastar–have become Maoist activists and leaders. They are the ones now facing mass killings. Their struggles for the right to live on their own land, against corporate interests seeking to exploit mines and resources, pushed them to take up arms for the political goal of “People’s Political Power.” They had no other choice in the face of violent evictions. This was not just a dream limited to Central India or Bastar–it was a dream of a new democratic India.

That is why this dream still resonates in villages across India and in the hearts of the youth and the oppressed. India’s revolutionary movements and their struggles have always faced brutal repression and massacres. It has swum across rivers of blood in Telangana, in Kayyur, Karivallur, Punnapra, Vayalar, and in Andhra, Bihar, Odisha, Punjab, West Bengal and Maharashtra. How many fighters from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have fallen in Keralam, embracing this revolutionary dream? Keralam too has its martyrs. 

After Punnapra-Vayalar, Tebagha and Telangana, the great Naxalbari agrarian revolutionary struggle carved out the true path of the Indian revolution. Though suppressed, the awakening and fervour it created have nourished India’s revolutionary movement. Naxalbari is an inexhaustible spring of the Indian revolution. Despite immense sacrifices, twists and turns, and ups and downs, it continues to move forward. At times, it may seem like a dwindling river, but it has also flowed in full force. One day, it will rage forward, sweeping away all injustice. The Indian revolution will triumph, overcoming all obstacles.
Porattom
State General Council, Keralam

Remembering Karamat Ali and Tapan Bose
Last year, South Asia lost two stalwart peace activists and human rights defenders, with the deaths of Karamat Ali (June 2024) and Tapan Bose (February 2025). Their rich lives were informed by their commitment to pluralism and justice, principles that are being torn asunder by current dispensations. 

Among Karamat’s and Tapan’s many endeavours, both were also active members of the grassroots people-to-people initiative, Pakistan-India-People’s–Forum-for-Peace-and-Democracy (PIPFPD) which was founded in 1995. The PIPFPD has brought together human rights activists, cultural workers, trade unionists, feminist rights groups, lawyers, teachers and businessmen, representing a wide spectrum of civil society from India and Pakistan in what is known as ‘Track 2 diplomacy’, engaging common people in India and Pakistan in peace efforts to overcome war hysteria and military conflicts engineered by the rulers.

In these troubled times, it is more important than ever for peace initiatives to be more widely known. People want peace, not war.

To quote Arundhati Roy: “Pakistan and India are not at war, but their governments are. Their business communities, film industries, and people are not fighting each other. This war is actually a drama created by the ruling elite on both sides, which benefits from fear and hatred.  The Indian and Pakistani elite keep nationalism and the Kashmir issue alive to divert their people’s attention from poverty, inequality, and government failures and atrocities.”
Dolores Chew, CERAS (Centre sur l’asie du sud)

Yet Another Encounter
On May 21st, as per news reports, over 27 armed rebels of the CPI (Maoist) have been killed in an encounter led by the District Reserve Guard (DRG), a force of local youth and surrendered Maoists, formed in contravention with Supreme Court’s order of not inducting surrendered naxalites in anti-naxal operations. In the present operation, besides the alleged death of 27 Maoists, one DRG member was killed and several were injured. The aspect highlighted across the media is the killing of the General Secretary of the CPI (Maoist) Basavaraj alias Nambala Keshava Rao. This killing is hailed by the media and the state as a major setback for the Maoists and a success of the State’s military might, projected as the viable approach to the Maoist movement, day by day, making a mockery of the call for peace talks. This operation comes in the wake of another operation on the Karregutta Hills of Chhattisgarh, subsequently named Operation Black Forest. Discrepancies regarding the number of armed rebels versus unarmed villagers, the deliberate delay in handing over bodies resulting in despoliation and decay, and reports of cross-firing between the Greyhounds and CRPF raised more questions. The lack of coordination between the political leadership of the Chhattisgarh government at the topmost level was exposed by contradictory statements. The Coordination Committee for Peace (CCP) has raised these questions and demanded an impartial inquiry into the operation.

 In line with international humanitarian principles, the CCP urgently calls for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire from the Government of India to reciprocate the Maoists’ unilateral declaration of a ceasefire; the immediate suspension of Operation Kagar; and the establishment of a dialogue mechanism for peace talks with the CPI (Maoist).
Kavita Srivastava
Kranti Chaitanya
Dr MF Gopinath
Coordination Committee for Peace

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Frontier
Vol 57, No. 51, June 15 - 21, 2025