Govt to name mediators soon for talks with naxals

The state government will soon announce the appointment of mediators to participate in talks with the armed naxalite organisations, especially with the People's War Group (PWG) on its behalf.

These mediators would be selected from outside the government machinery, according to state home minister K Jana Reddy.

While agreeing officially to the offer of the government for talks on ending violence, PWG has faxed a letter to the government on Tuesday deputing its state committee secretary Ramakrishna as its representative for the talks.

It has also responded positively by reciprocating the government's ceasefire offer for a period of three months.

Welcoming the PWG move, home minister Jana Reddy yesterday said that the government would do everything possible for the fruitful conduct of talks.

He said the government is already finalising the names of government mediators. "We will soon come out with names beside the procedural framework for talks, possibly in this week," he said.

He did not respond to the assertion of PWG that its squads would continue to move around in villages with arms during the ceasefire period.

He merely said that the government has already appealed to the naxal organisation not to enter villages with arms so as not to create any panic or confusion among the public.

Prakash, the representative of the politburo of PWG group in his letter justified the movement of armed squads in villages saying that arms were meant for only self-defence and to protect the rights of the people.

CPI(ML) Janasakti, another naxalite group but a minor force compared to the PWG, has also sent a letter to the home minister deputing PUCL activist Kesavarao Jadav and two others as its representatives for the talks.

Replying to a question as to why the government wanted to appoint outsiders as its mediators, the home minister said that the mediators needed to interact with both the parties and should acceptable to the government as well as the PWG.

On the question of why a government official or a minister was not directly involved in talks, the minister said that if the PWG insisted upon his participation in the talks he would do so.

CPI(ML) Janasakti, another naxalite group but a minor force compared to the PWG, has also sent a letter to the home minister deputing PUCL activist Kesavarao Jadav and two others as its representatives to participate in the said talks.