Southern States
-
Andhra Pradesh
PWG ready for talks: Govt. in a tight spot
By K. Srinivas Reddy
HYDERABAD, FEB. 10. Would the move to bring the People's War Group (PWG) and the Government to a negotiating table serve any purpose or would it be used by both the sides to their tactical advantage?
This question assumes significance in the backdrop of the all-party meeting being convened on Tuesday. The Opposition parties want the Government to initiate some dialogue with the PWG to ensure peace in the extremist affected districts. The ruling Telugu Desam Party and the BJP are not averse to strike a deal with the PWG as these two parties have been facing the brunt of the PWG actions.
But the Government finds itself in a tight corner. There is an apprehension that the PWG was trying to buy some respite in the name of holding `unconditional talks' and that any decision to reduce the anti-extremist operations by the police could provide a breathing time for the PWG which, it believes, is on the run. The way the PWG regrouped itself during the `liberal period' during the tenure of former Chief Minister M. Channa Reddy is still fresh in the minds of policy makers.
The decision makers in the Government believe that the PWG readily responded to the appeal of the Committee of Concerned Citizens (CCC) for holding talks with the Government and had publicised its willingness only because of continuous pressure being mounted by the police.
The other important factor, they believe, is the failure of the People's Guerrilla Army (PGA) in December 2000 which had practically distanced the underground cadre in PGA platoons from people while the Local Guerrilla Squads (LGS) members were primarily concerned with saving themselves.
After the formation of the PGA, the PWG had formed special action committees and targetted village and mandal level politicians. Naturally, the TDP and the BJP cadres were targetted. The Congress too received a shock when the PWG activists in Mahaboobnagar district shot dead its MLA, Ragya Naik. The PWG had later tendered an apology for killing Naik stating that it was a mistake. But the killing came at a time when the APCC president, M. Satyanarayana Rao, had gone on record urging the Government to hold talks with the naxalites.
Though the political parties are skeptical about the outcome of the ongoing initiative, they hope that any respite from the onslaught of the PWG would be a great relief for the grassroot level leaders, most of whom have been forced to live in towns in a bid to escape attacks from the PWG. Besides, the initiative is certainly an opportunity for the Opposition to put the Government in an irksome position.
The police who have been fighting the extremists is jittery over the prospect of holding talks with the PWG as they believe that the PWG was making such an offer only to stop them from seizing the initiative and weakening the naxalite movement.
The general apprehension of the police and the decision makers is that the PWG could bargain for halting the anti-extremist operations for a specific period and use the interregnum for consolidating its position in the affected areas.
Police officers involved in anti-extremist operations cite the observation of Ramakrishna, a member of the North Telangana Special Zonal Committee (NTSZC), that the PWG would use talks as an effective tool to further their revolutionary cause.
If at all, the initiative fructifies and talks are held, the PWG is likely to come out with general demands like recognition of their activity as a political activity, judicial enquiries into killings of PWG activists as well as civil liberties leaders like Purushotham and Azam Ali, allowing public meetings without any obstacles etc.
A top police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity pointed out that the PWG would in all probability repeat systematically what it had done during the liberal period of Channa Reddy rule including coercing all government departments to cooperate with it.
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Southern States
|
