Visit Indian Travel Sites
Goa,
Kerala,
Tamil Nadu,
Andhra Pradesh,
Delhi,
Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh,
Himachal Pradesh,
Assam,
Sikkim,
Madhya Pradesh,
Jammu & Kashmir
Karnataka
|
Sukma Collector's abduction: Chhattisgarh Govt names mediators | The Chhattisgarh Government on Tuesday named two former bureaucrats for holding
talks with Maoists to secure the release of abducted Sukma District Collector
Alex Paul Menon. The two mediators- SK Mishra and N Buch- have served as chief
secretaries of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, respectively. The development
came a day after Maoists named three mediators for negotiations. Out of the three,
two - senior Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan and local MLA Manish Kunjam
- have already refused to mediate in the matter. Earlier, Bhushan said: "No, I
cannot mediate in this situation, because in my view, kidnapping a civilian officer
and holding him as a hostage and then negotiating is not correct. So, I believe
that the Maoists must release this officer unconditionally." "Some of the demands
of the ultras were legitimate and thus, the government must look into the matter
and take adequate measures to address their problems," he added. The Naxals have
demanded the release of eight colleagues: Markam Gopanna alias Satyam Reddy, Nirmal
Akka alias Vijay Laxmi, Devpal Chandrashekhar Reddy, Shantipriya Reddy, Meena
Choudhari, Korsa Sunny, Markam Sunny and Asit Kumar Sen. The ultras also want
anti-Naxal Operation Green Hunt to be cancelled, security forces to be withdrawn
from the region and persons against whom they allege "fake cases" have been registered,
released from the jails. In an audacious operation, Maoist rebels on Saturday
abducted Menon, an IAS officer of 2006 batch, from the middle of a meeting with
villagers from Majhipara village in Keralapal area of the Naxal-infected district.
The Sukma district collector's kidnapping comes even as uncertainty continues
over the fate of ruling BJD MLA Jhina Hikaka in neighbouring Odisha who was abducted
by the Maoists about a month ago. Menon is the first collector of the newly-created
Sukma district and was known to be pro-active in undertaking development work
in the backward region.
|
|
|
|
|
|