The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Halt police action, initiate talks: APCLC

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 19, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Halt police action, initiate talks: APCLC

By Our Staff Reporter

ANANTAPUR, JAN. 18. The Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC) and the Organisation for People's Democratic Rights (OPDR) expressed dissatisfaction over the abrupt end to the peace process.

The two organisations insisted upon the Government to initiate certain confidence building measures like stopping encounters, search and combing operations to force the revolutionary parties to rethink on their decision to withdraw from the peace process. Addressing a press conference here today, the State general secretary of APCLC, S. Seshaiah, and the State vice-president of OPDR, M. Srinivasulu, opined that the responsibility of resuming the peace process lied on the State Government rather than the revolutionary parties.

Plea to naxalites

At the same time, they appealed to the CPI (Maoist) and CPI (ML-Janashakti) to rethink on their decision to withdraw from the peace talks and observe restraint to create a peaceful and democratic atmosphere in the State.

Prof. Seshaiah stated that during a padayatra taken out by the APCLC from January 8-10 from Veldanda (Warangal district) to Hyderabad, people and elected representatives all along the march

had favoured continuation of the peace process. They were enjoying the peaceful atmosphere with no fear from the police and the elected representatives having no threat from naxalites.

Government blamed

He alleged that the Government had failed to extend the unofficial ceasefire after it had lapsed on December 16. But, a series of encounter killings, searches in villages and combing operations in forest areas has reflected a major change in the attitude of the Government, he observed.

The unexpected violation of agreement reached between the mediators of the naxalites and the Government on observing ceasefire had led to the present situation, he explained. The police claims on encounters that they had taken place in villages when the naxalites were moving around with arms was also wrong, he contended.

Prof. Seshaiah said in all the present encounters, the victims were shot dead in the deep forests and their bodies were shifted to the forest fringes to depict them as encounters outside villages. The police appeared to be resolved to thwart the peace process, he alleged.

As the revolutionary parties had listed reasons for their withdrawal from the talks, it was for the Government to rebuild the confidence among people, democratic forces and the naxalites.

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