The Hindu : Kerala News : Concern over recurring incidents of violence

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Friday, Mar 07, 2008
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Kerala

Concern over recurring incidents of violence

Mohamed Nazeer

Thalassery residents call for peace initiatives

Anti-social elements taking advantage
of situation
UDF accuses police force of inaction

KANNUR: The grim law and order situation in Thalassery may be a subject of sceptical comments against the police machinery in the district, but it throws light on the tinderbox that the area has become over the past several months as Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Sangh Parivar activists resort to retaliatory killings and attacks.

The death of three persons, including two Bharatiya Janata Party-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (BJP-RSS) workers and a CPI(M) worker, in Thalassery and nearby areas on Wednesday betrays the potentially explosive situation prevailing in and around the town. The violence also left eight people seriously injured, one of them still battling for life in a hospital in Kozhikode. The area is not new to incidents of political clashes between the CPI(M) and Sangh Parivar workers. The killings and attacks on Wednesday, however, have evoked memories of the grim days of political murders of 1981 and in the days following the killing of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha leader K.T. Jayakrishnan on December 31, 1999.

Panur used to be the epicentre of political violence till a decade or so ago, as rival CPI(M) and BJP-RSS workers battled with weapons and country bombs.

Over the last few years, Thalassery and its suburbs have become the battleground for rival party workers. Six CPI(M) and BJP-RSS workers have been killed in Thalassery, the Home Minister’s constituency, over the last four months.

“Recurrent incidents of political violence are causing erosion of people’s morale in the area,” says N. Sajan, a resident of Thalassery and English lecturer at the Sree Narayana College here.

There should be serious peace initiatives by both the rival parties to end violence, he says. Anti-social elements such as burglars are taking advantage of the tense situation in the area, Dr. Sajan says calling for collective efforts by all parties to weed out these social menaces.

United Democratic Front circles here say the relative calm in the politically volatile areas of the district during the previous UDF rule proved the impact of police action after the force was given total freedom to hunt down culprits involved in violence.

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