War crime? Global NGO compares Central Indian counterinsurgency with Palestine, seeks ceasefire

By A Representative 

In a strong statement echoing international concern, the People's Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS) has condemned the Indian government's ongoing militarization and brutal operations in Central India, comparing the situation to the siege of Palestine. The coalition asserts that the Indian state is waging a full-blown war against its own people—particularly the Indigenous Adivasi communities—in order to facilitate corporate exploitation of mineral-rich lands.

According to PCFS, Central India—especially the regions of Bastar in Chhattisgarh and the Karegatta Hills in Telangana—has become a warzone under the guise of counter-insurgency operations targeting Maoist rebels, also known as Naxals. However, instead of targeting armed insurgents, the Indian security forces are alleged to be primarily attacking civilians. The statement highlights mass human rights abuses including extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, illegal arrests, burning of villages, and even aerial bombings.

“Over 400 extrajudicial killings, including children and the elderly, have occurred in Bastar alone since January 2024,” the coalition reported. “More than 300 villages have been torched and countless women have been subjected to mass sexual violence.”

The PCFS -- a global network of grassroots organizations, small food producers, indigenous peoples, and advocacy groups working to advance food sovereignty and social justice -- accused the Indian government of using the conflict to clear the way for neoliberal development projects and foreign investments. It said, laws like the Forest Rights Act (FRA) are being manipulated to dispossess Adivasi communities of their ancestral lands under the false banner of legal recognition.

The coalition particularly denounced Operation Kagar in Bastar and Operation Black Forest in Karegatta Hills—ongoing state-led military offensives—as efforts to suppress Indigenous resistance and clear ground for extractive industries. It also condemned the killing of top Maoist leaders even after they had declared a unilateral ceasefire, calling these actions war crimes.

“These state-led offensives do not address the root causes of conflict but rather escalate violence and deepen hunger, displacement, and poverty,” the statement said. “There would be no need for armed resistance if people's rights to food, land, and dignity were upheld."

The coalition called for:

- An immediate ceasefire and initiation of peace talks

- Suspension of counter-insurgency programs

- Accountability for human rights violations and war crimes

- Genuine development based on the needs and rights of local communities