The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Jana confident of end to row over arms

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Thursday, Sep 09, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Jana confident of end to row over arms

By Our Staff Reporter

The Home Minister, K. Jana Reddy, gestures during the talks in Hyderabad on Wednesday. Also seen are the chairperson for the talks, Tejavat Bellaiah Nayak, emissaries of the PW and Janashakti, G.Kalyan Rao, Varavara Rao, Gaddar and Srinivasa Rao.

HYDERABAD, SEPT. 8. The Home Minister, K. Jana Reddy, on Wednesday expressed optimism that the impasse over the issue whether to permit People's War cadres to carry weapons during the peace process or not would be broken during the next round of talks on September 10.

The talks will focus on arriving at a compromise formula between the Government's stand that the naxalites shed weapons and even as the extremists' opposition to the move, the Minister told a round table meeting on `Government-naxalite talks' organised here on Wednesday by the SC, ST, BC and Minority Organisations Coordination Committee.

"The Government will also weigh the pros and cons of suspending the rule prohibiting carrying of weapons in the case of naxalites even if it meant bypassing statutes," he said.

Uniform law

Mr. Reddy said the Government would be seen as discriminating against factionalists and anti-social elements in the implementation of statutes if the naxalites were given a free hand to carry weapons. As custodian of the Constitution, it must apply law uniformly to all sections.

Possibility of PIL

The Home Minister referred to the possibility of a public interest litigation (PIL) being filed in court if naxalites were allowed to carry weapons. In that case, the Government could be accused of colluding with naxalites and not performing the role of protecting the Constitution. He admitted that there were outdated statutes but they had to be considered, as they were not redundant.

One of the eight mediators in the Government-naxalites talks, Bojja Tarakam, said there could be no comparison between factionalists and naxalites. In any case, the Government failed to check the activities of factionalists. Why should it make an exception to naxalites?

He said while keeping the weapons issue pending, all other matters of contention between the two sides could be thrashed out.

Doubts over agenda

The three emissaries of the People's War -- Varavara Rao, Gadar and G. Kalyan Rao -- also spoke. Mr. Varavara Rao said the PW and other revolutionary groups were committed to the main agenda of the talks, namely democratic rights for public, economic demands and self-dependence of the State. He doubted whether the main agenda would be taken up at all, as he feared the weapons issue, may dominate the talks.

No mention in letter

Mr. Gadar said there was no reference to weapons in the first letter of communication on talks between the Government and the naxalites. The PW laid down seven conditions for talks and implemented them strictly and the Government unilaterally added one more on weapons without the consent of the outfit.

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