Hyderabad, July 21
Demonstrating its commitment to the ongoing peace talks with Naxalites, the Congress Government in Andhra Pradesh today decided to lift the ban on the People’s War Group (PWG), meeting one of the major demands of the extremist organisation.
“We have decided not to renew the ban on the PWG and hope this will pave the way for restoration of peace in the state,” Home Minister K. Jana Reddy said here after holding marathon consultations with PWG’s emissaries. The ban lapses tomorrow.
The historic decision followed hectic consultations by the Home Minister with PWG’s emissaries — revolutionary balladeer
Gadar, writers Vara Vara Rao and Kalyan Rao — and some of the mediators named by the PWG, including noted civil rights leader
K.G. Kannabiran, retired IAS official S.R. Sankaran, academician Haragopal and veteran journalist P Venkateswara Rao.
The ban on the PWG, the most dreaded among the Naxalite organisations responsible for large-scale killings, targetting policemen and politicians, was imposed in May, 1992, coinciding with the first death anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
The lifting of the ban on the PWG is the latest in a series of initiatives by the government to revive talks with Naxalites, a key poll promise of the Congress.
The government has already announced a three-month ceasefire and constituted a committee of mediators to hold negotiations with the PWG. It has also dispensed with the policy of rewards on the heads of Naxalites, offered safe passage to Naxalite leaders who will be participating in the talks and set up a committee to monitor implementation of the ceasefire.
