Regrets, fears and gloom shroud Dantewada as jawans laid to rest

Families of slain personnel struggle to cope with sudden loss

Reshma Kartam had lost her father and a policeman brother to Maoist violence in the past, but she still wasn’t prepared for the loss of her husband, Rajuram Kartam.

Kartam (25), a gopaniya sainik (secret soldier or informer) with the Chhattisgarh Police’s District Reserve Guard (DRG), had been active in anti-insurgency operations.

“After losing my brother Umakant, a DRG jawan himself, in an anti-Naxal operation last November, I had become more fearful. He [Kartam] understood, and even discussed the threats his job entailed, but it was a way of life for him. My worst fears have come true,” says Ms. Reshma, as she mourns her husband, one of the 10 security personnel killed in a Maoist ambush near Dantewada’s Aranpur on Wednesday. A civilian driver too was killed in the attack.

Seated a few metres away from her husband’s coffin, Ms. Reshma breaks down in tears holding her one-year-old son in her arms. Many more grieving people – mostly relatives of the slain jawans – surround her at Dantewada’s Police Ground at Karli, as they await the beginning of the wreath-laying ceremony.

And it’s not just families who find themselves struggling with the loss and uncertainty about their future in a conflict zone like Bastar. Friends and ex-colleagues have also assembled, as have families of jawans who died in Maoist attacks in the past.

R.R. Kunjam, a DRG constable who has accompanied parents of deceased jawan Lakhmuram Markam, says Markam’s death won’t be a deterrent for him and has only furthered his resolve to take part in combat operations.

The DRG, a locally raised force, comprises several veterans like Markam who was associated with the Chhattisgarh Police since the days of Salwa Judum (now-banned militia mobilised by police), and surrendered Maoists, who make up nearly 50% of the force. Joga Kawasi, one such surrendered Maoist-turned-policeman, was among the casualties of Wednesday’s attack.