Maoists ready for peace talks, demand Chidambaram's removal
Wed, 08/18/2010 - 06:47 by Aisha
The Maoists agreed to have peace talks with the government on three conditions. They have demanded removal of Home Minister P Chidambaram, roping in an independent mediator and announcement of a three month bilateral ceasefire.
Maoist leader Koteshwar Rao, also known as Kishenji, said that his party will support PM and president to fight corruption and terrorism.
The three conditions
The Maoists have demanded removal of Chidambaram and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah for killing their party spokesperson and top Maoist leader Cherukuri Rajkumar, alias Azad, in a stage encounter.
They have even suggested names of various Maoist sympathisers who can act as mediators. These include Swami Agnivesh, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, Author Arundhati Roy, Singer and Trinamool Congress MP Kabir Suman, B.D. Sharma, Gopal Narlekar and Ramanna.
Besides, the Maoists demanded an inquiry in the murder of their leader Azad and withdrawal of joint forces.
"If the Prime Minister is keen to restore peace and normalcy in the disturbed areas of the country, then he will have to take an initiative to withdraw joint forces and order a judicial inquiry into the murder of Azad," he said.
"We are always against terrorism and corruption of any kind...It has been our party's mandate to fight corruption and so we are mobilising people all over the country to ensure that they raise their voice against injustice which has been meted out to them," the Maoist leader added.
Considering the condition of the drought affected areas like West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, the Maoist leader has requested the government to sanction Rs 500 crore to handle the drought situation.
He even demanded for Rs 8,000 crore that had been sanctioned for modernization of police force and Rs 60 lakh to be utilized for employment and income generation schemes in under-developed districts of the country rather than spending it on anti-Naxal operations every day.
The government replied to Kishenji’s offer by asking them to relinquish violence before talks could commence between them.
