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Naxalites pull out of talks in Andhra Pradesh |
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The two main Naxalite groups in Andhra Pradesh, the CPI(Maoist) and Janshakti have withdrawn from the three-month old peace talks initiated by the State Government. In a joint statement, leaders of the two outfits said that the decision is in protest against the intensified combing operations by the police and the encounter killings taking place on a daily basis. Denouncing the Rajshekhar Reddy state government policies as anti-people, the outfits gave a call to the people to wage what they called a war to establish a new democratic society.
The Naxalite pullout from the talks came barely two hours a meeting of the State Cabinet in Hyderabad decided to go in for the second round of talks with Naxalite leaders. The Cabinet had also decided upon other conciliatory steps such as slowing down the combing operations and asking the people to observe restraint.
Within hours of the Naxalite announcement, State Home Minister K. Jana Reddy asked the Naxalites to reconsider their decision and urged them to see the recent encounters “unfortunate incidents”. The response of the Naxalites to the Home Minister’s statement has not yet come and the stalemate over the peace talks continues.
There are also reports that the Naxalites are continuing their attacks on alleged police informers and killed some of them in Karimnagar district. The police has also been engaging the Naxalites in encounters and two Maoists were gunned down in a forest area in Warangal district. A newspaper published eyewitness reports saying that the Warangal incident was not really an encounter but cold blooded killing of two unarmed leaders of the Telengana movement by some policemen in the forest.
Observers say that the breakdown of the peace talks is bound to increase tension and disturb peace in the state. It comes close on the heels of a cycle of violence and series of encounters in which the police killed 11 Naxalites and the Maoist rebels shot dead 4 persons including a policeman. If there is no resumption of talks, the state may witness a stepped up cycle of violence.
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