US talks Nandigram, Left fires on all cylinders

RIGHTS RECORD: US report cites Nandigram as one of the worst cases of rights violations in India.

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New Delhi: The US State Department's latest Annual Report on Human Rights, which has listed the Nandigram violence among the worst cases of rights violations in India in 2007, raised the heckles in the Left camp on Friday with CPI and CPI-M MPs slamming it as a 'grave interference of internal affairs of India by the Bush administration'.

The report, coming at a time when the UPA Government is trying to pursuade the Left on the Indo-US nuclear deal, said: "In West Bengal, violence in Nandigram district led to accusations of state government's failure to control ruling Communist party cadres, which were accused by human rights groups of killing more than 30 rural villagers and intimidating them through violence and rape."

The report also states that "From November 6 to 11, CPM members, whom human rights groups claim had state government's support and direction, conducted a violent campaign of intimidation to regain control over the Nandigram area."

It brings to notice another Left bastion, Kerala, as well; saying that the number of custodial deaths in the state has been abnormally high.

"According to Kerala State Human Rights Commission, 46 persons died in state custody throughout the year," the report said.

The report also mentions the failure of the Modi Government to arrest and convict those responsible for the 2002 violence. "Convictions of Hindu perpetrators of the violence were minimal, while acquittals were common," it said.

Apart from poor enforcement of human rights laws, the report also cites prolonged detention without trial, anti-terrorism laws that justified excessive use of force and endemic corruption at all levels of government and police.