Aid groups deny claims they are working in rebel camps but say unarmed Maoists could have been treated at clinics without their knowledge
RAIPUR, India (AlertNet) - Indian police have accused Western aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) of giving medical help to Maoist insurgents in one of the country's poorest and most troubled regions.
The aid groups denied claims they were working in rebel camps but said unarmed Maoists or security forces out of uniform could have been treated at their clinics for civilians without the knowledge of their staff.
A senior police officer in the central state of Chhattisgarh said the two aid groups -- which are providing health services to poor tribespeople -- were also treating rebels who have been waging a decades-old rebellion.
"I don't welcome the ICRC and the MSF treating Maoists who are actually killing police in dozens," S.R.P. Kalluri, senior superintendent of police in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, told AlertNet by phone.
"These two organisations are deliberately going to Maoist camps and spending weeks. I am a man of an enforcement agency and can't welcome them having extra love for Maoists and not for other people who get injured in Maoist brutalities."
Kalluri said police got the information from two Maoists and a medical supplier in the area earlier this week, who had said the two organisations were helping Maoists in forested areas.
The Maoist insurgency -- waged mostly from the vast, mineral-rich forests of central and eastern India by rebels who say they are fighting for the rights of the poor and landless -- has grown bloodier over the past year, partly due to crackdown by security forces.
The violence -- estimated to have killed 600 to 700 people annually and displaced 100,000 civilians -- has been declared India’s biggest internal security threat.
Both agencies dismissed the allegations, adding that they remain neutral and did not support the rebels.
"We are very surprised to hear this accusation," said Alexis Heeb, ICRC's spokesman in New Delhi.
"We do not work in Dantewada district but we run a primary health clinic in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district and this is done with the full support and knowledge of the police and authorities."
The head of MSF's mission in India, Martin Sloot, said the accusations were baseless and that there was "some confusion" about the work of the group, which has been running services such as mobile health clinics and mother and child health centres in the state since 2006.
"We are currently talking to authorities to resolve this issue," he told AlertNet from Raipur, capital of Chhattisgarh.
Both aid groups said they were there to help the poor populations who have been hit by the civil unrest.
Due to insecurity, few international aid groups work in Chhattisgarh, which has been the epicentre of the violence between Maoist fighters, security forces and pro-government militias since 2005.
(Additional reporting by Nita Bhalla)
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