The Hindu : A conciliatory prelude

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 22, 2002

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A conciliatory prelude

THE ANDHRA PRADESH Government's decision to allow the People's War Group's negotiators safe passage in order to facilitate participation in the next round of the ongoing negotiations is a welcome prelude to the commencement of a more substantive dialogue in the coming months aimed at ending the decades-long cycle of extremist violence and counter-insurgency in the State. The move is the latest in a series of positive and proactive signals from both sides that include the Government's readiness to comply with the militant outfit's demand earlier this month that political leaders rather than bureaucrats represent the Government in the dialogue. Also positive was the PWG's unilateral announcement last May of a month-long ceasefire that set the ball rolling in the ongoing peace process. There was also the favourable disposition of the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, for quite some time now towards resuming the dialogue with the PWG even though it is banned under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Significant among the latest conciliatory signals is the PWG's announcement to further extend the ceasefire despite its anxieties over fake encounters. The current run of a climate of amity cannot be underestimated considering that it was only last January that a Congress Member of the Legislative Assembly had been murdered in cold blood in Mahbubnagar district by extremists and fake encounters have continued to claim the lives of militants.

What lends a degree of realism and hope to some of these departures is the fact that they do not stem from any delusion whatsoever in relation to the respective positions, even though they could quite reasonably be construed as evidence of a change in mutual perceptions. The PWG for instance has underlined the use of violence in self-defence, lest its recent accommodativeness vis-a-vis the Government should give rise to any ambiguity on the place of armed insurgency in its scheme of things. Similarly, the State Government which continues to be guarded in its response to the offer of a ceasefire has nevertheless displayed a measure of reasonableness in dealing with the other demands of the PWG. But a political establishment that is serious in honouring its commitment to restoring peace in Telangana and the northern coastal belt would necessarily have to look behind these outward postures for lasting long-term solutions.

In the present context, this would mean recognising the real significance of the undercurrents of the recent cautious approach to each other, which underscore the growing acceptance on the part of the PWG of the broad framework of Constitutional democratic accountability, even if arguably only on pragmatic grounds. Once the underlying political vocabulary of the debate acquires a shift in this direction, a democratically elected Government — committed to the Constitutional values of social justice and the protection of fundamental rights — can ill-afford not to be seen to deliver on these basics; not five decades after achieving political independence. Similarly, extremist groups which seek to impose greater accountability on the part of elected Governments are under obligation to respect the sanctity of human life and the rule of law as much as the rulers are bound to recognise the intrinsic value and legitimacy of dissent in a democracy.

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