Date:17/05/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/05/17/stories/2004051705210400.htm

Andhra Pradesh

CPI opposes move to ban APCLC

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, MAY 16. The city council of the Communist Party of India (CPI) has strongly opposed the alleged move by the police to ban the A.P. Civil Liberties Committee and also urged the State Government to consider steps to lift ban on the People's War to create a congenial atmosphere for talks.

"The PW should be allowed to join the mainstream. Though it had killed our partymen too, we have never supported the ban. We also appeal to naxalites to desist from killings and blasts," said V. Ram Narasimha Rao, secretary of the council, and others at a press conference here on Sunday.

The CPI leader said that the PW should also realise that the left movement was strengthened during the present elections. The party noted that the Government was also looking at the naxal issue not merely as a law and order problem but as a political and social one.

It urged the police not to resort to `fake encounters' and understand the spirit behind the appeal made by Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. It hailed the decision to remove police camps from the disturbed areas.

Mr. Rao strongly urged the police not to withdraw the `unwarranted proposal' of banning the APCLC as the latter consisted of writers, journalists and intellectuals. The civil liberties movement was democratic one and such organisations were allowed to function all over the world including the United States. The statement of the DGP, S.R. Sukumara, on the proposal to ban the APCLC came as a shock to all the progressive forces, he added.