The Hindu : Truce with extremism

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 11, 2002

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

Truce with extremism

THE UNILATERAL CEASEFIRE declared by the People's War Group (PWG) on Tuesday and an equally positive response by the Andhra Pradesh Government come at a time when an exasperated civil society yearns for respite from the three-decade-long relentless cycle of state repression and militant violence. The month-long ceasefire commencing this Friday follows the surrender of 46 persons belonging to the Janshakti group of naxalites. The latest announcement is not after all completely unexpected even though the PWG had committed over 30 offences, including 11 murders, since it revoked an earlier ceasefire last March. The genuineness of the State Government's endeavour to make peace could not be questioned in view of the fact that the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, was undeterred by doubts raised over the wisdom of holding talks with extremist groups banned under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

While it is important to welcome the general spirit behind these developments, to expect a drastic turn of events in the immediate future would be to underestimate the magnitude and the real nature of the task ahead. It is worth noting in this connection that the month-long ceasefire applies only in Andhra Pradesh and therefore does not represent in any way a shift in the strategy of the PWG which has stepped up militant activities in neighbouring States. For the peace process to really take off, the parties concerned would necessarily have to engage in some introspection on their respective postures. To begin with, extremist groups would have to make a determined bid to abjure the cult of violence for the reason that the constabulary as well as unarmed citizens, who are often among the victims of armed insurrection, themselves belong to the exploited mass of socio-economically deprived sections of society. Moreover, political transformation of the kind accomplished in "bourgeois" liberal democracies such as India, in contrast to pre-Soviet Tsarist Russia and pre-revolution China, needs to be taken into account. Also, armed action by small groups cannot substitute the hard toil required to create political awareness among the masses. On the contrary, adventurist violence of the kind witnessed in Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring States, apart from costing innocent lives, legitimises retaliatory repression by the state apparatus. For its part, the state machinery would have to seriously re-examine what may be termed the "law-and-order mindset" when grappling with the complexities of a highly inequitable and consequently brutalised socio-political milieu. The systematic undermining of the rightful place of expressions of dissent in a democratic polity only pushes social groups already on the margins to the brink. The net result has been the increasing brutalities committed on either side contributing to a sense of all round insecurity in society.

The role played in the past two years by the Committee of Concerned Citizens — comprising persons predisposed to a civil rights political culture — has been critical in the endeavours to bring peace in the State. The formidable challenge before this body, however, is to drive home in unambiguous terms to either side the unacceptability of violence as well as disregard for the rule of law. For, any dilution of this position is a luxury not available within the human rights framework.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Opinion

Stories in this Section

Packaging for better results

Truce with extremism

Export patterns

The violence of sovereignty

Where women bore the brunt