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Muthanga issue: Karunakaran for probe

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM MARCH. 8. The senior Congress leader, K. Karunakaran, said here today that the Government should inquire about tribals reported missing following the police action at Muthanga in Wayanad.

Mr. Karunakaran recalled that LDF MLAs had claimed that 131 tribals were missing after the police firing. Man-missing cases were ones that should be investigated by the Government. The Government should clarify what it had done about them.

He said it was his opinion that a judicial inquiry should have been ordered into the incident. That would have helped the Government as it had nothing to hide from the people. It would also have prevented internationalisation of the incident. The UDF Liaison Committee had been told about the report sought by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and it had resolved that the Government should cooperate with an inquiry by the Commission. He would further comment on the matter after waiting for a week to see the response of the Government and the Commission. A judicial probe and an inquiry by the Commission could not be conducted concurrently.

Mr. Karunakaran said he was not aware of the criticism that the NHRC did not have sufficient powers to deal with the situation. The inquiry conducted by the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and a possible inquiry by the NHRC would be on different aspects of the incident.

Asked about the reports that two Ministers had aided the agitation by the tribals, Mr. Karunakaran said it was not a question of responsibility of two Ministers. The Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues had a collective responsibility.

He said harassment of journalists by the Government should stop. The action taken by the police against journalists, accusing them of conspiracy and inciting of murder, was wrong. Press freedom should not be curtailed in any way, though people guilty of crimes should be punished. The situation now was that the Director General of Police declared that there was no police policy in the State. He was telling the Government what to do.

Referring to the Opposition agitation demanding a judicial inquiry, Mr. Karunakaran said he was not against hartals. However, the Opposition parties should not inconvenience the students writing their examinations. The hartal should be postponed.

He said the Government argument that there was not enough land for distribution to the tribals would create the impression that the Government was defunct. Everyone supported the cause of the tribals and positive action was called for. If the KPCC(I) president, K. Muraleedharan, had made any negative comment about the Adivasi agitation, it was only from a political angle.

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