A report released by an international human rights organisation has held the Maoists as well as the security forces responsible for widespread human rights violations in Chhattisgarh, which, it says, is virtually under siege due to the clashes. "Neither the government nor the Naxalites leave any room for civilian neutrality. Seeking protection from one side leaves an area's inhabitants at the risk of attack by the other," says the Human Rights Watch (HRW) report titled "Being neutral is our biggest crime: Government, vigilante and Naxalite abuses in India's Chhattishgarh". The report says that the Centre as well as the Chhattisgarh government should hold security forces and state-backed vigilantes accountable for attacking, killing and forcibly displacing thousands of people in armed operations against the Maoist rebels. Describing salwa judum as a state-supported vigilante group meant to counter the Naxalites, the report says that its members have, with the active support of security forces, conducted violent raids on hundreds of villages suspected of being pro-Naxalite, killed and raped villagers, burnt down huts, forcibly recruited civilians for its vigilante activities and relocated tens of thousands of people to government-run camps. "They attacked villagers who refused to participate or left the camps," it said, explaining that the Naxalites have only retaliated against this aggressive government-supported campaign by attacking residents of these camps and abducting and executing individuals they identified as salwa judum leaders or supporters, police informers or camp residents appointed as auxiliary police, it said. "The HRW calls for an end to all government support for unlawful activities by the salwa judum vigilantes, and urges the affected state governments to take measures to protect the tens of thousands of displaced people," it said. Reacting to the report, the Union home ministry said that India is a thriving democracy and has adequate institutional mechanism to ensure that human rights of its citizens are protected. "It has an independent judiciary, free media and commissions at the national and state levels to promote and protect human rights," an MHA spokesman said.