Interlocutors complain “coercive” action, urge government to execute agreement

By Ratikant Mohanty/ www.indusvalleytimes.com

Bhubaneswar: In a significant development, Dr B.D. Sharma and Dandapani Mohanty, the two interlocutors who had facilitated release of two Italian nationals taken hostage in March, on May 21 wrote a letter to the Odisha home secretary U.N. Behera complaining “coercive action” by the state government against the rebels.

In the letter, the interlocutors said the state government had not followed the “references of future action plans” it had signed with them.

Stating that the state government on the concluding meeting on April 7, 2012 had promised to work towards promoting mutual trust, finalise the frame for release of prisoners, discuss the basic issues such as command over resources and their use; and examine the aspects of governance in scheduled areas, the interlocutors alleged that no tangible efforts were made on those regards.

“After abduction of Italian tourists, the Odisha State Committee of CPI (Maoists) had declared cease fire. The state government, on its part, also declared that there shall be no coercive action by security forces. The basic objective of an episode like this is to move gradually towards normalcy in all spheres of life, including use of force at one end to assertion of natural rights by the people on the other. But this unstated premise has not been materialized. While Maoists in this area are maintaining cease-fire, the state forces has ravaged their forest abodes twice,” the interlocutors alleged.  

Observing that the high expectations of the people or return of had once again been endangered, the negotiators said the prevailing situation was just “the other way round.”

“The simple tribals are panicky with the onset of combing operations. The word ‘Green Hunt’ has a dreaded signal for the worst eventuality of ‘horror scenes’ in Village India. This scenario can change to the core if the colonial aberrations of the system are erased and people-centric systems with community at the top are adopted,” they argued in the letter. 

They pleaded for early release of prisoners who the state government agreed to set free during the negotiation process and stop exploitation of the tribals.

Replying to the letter, the home secretary said the government was following its commitments in litter and spirit. He, however, reiterated that the Maoists had broken the peace process by resuming violence in certain areas.