The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Two-pronged strategy to tackle naxalism

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 21, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Two-pronged strategy to tackle naxalism

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, JAN. 20. The Government is in the process of evolving a two-pronged strategy to counter the threat of naxalism.

While its firm conviction is that any permanent solution to the `socio-economic problem' could be found only through talks, it is also not willing to allow `illegal activity through the illegal weapon'.

Giving priority to its conviction, a meeting of the Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, and the Home Minister, K.Jana Reddy, with the police top brass on Thursday decided that the police force, on its part, would not resort to any provocation.

The force is to be advised against staging fake encounters, stop harassing innocents in the name of combing operation and not to kill naxalites during such face-offs as far as possible.

On the other hand, the police would also not turn a blind eye to the illegal activity of naxalites like coercions and extortions. The force was duty bound to maintain law and order and illegal armed activity should be put to an end, the meeting felt.

The meeting reviewed the preparedness of the security apparatus in sensitive areas and the arrangements to be made for the Republic Day parade.

Two major concerns of the meeting were whether the change in attitude of the leaders of the erstwhile People's War was due to its merger with the Maoist Communist Centre of India and to what an extent the ISI had influenced naxalites.

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