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| Saturday, 25 September 2004 |
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Andhra Pradesh invites leftist rebels for first peace talks NEW DELHI, Friday (Reuters) A southern Indian state has invited a powerful left-wing extremist group for peace talks for the first time since they rose up in revolt more than three decades ago, state radio said on Friday. The Congress party government that took office in Andhra Pradesh state this year lifted a ban on the shadowy People's War Group to open the way for talks to end a revolt that has killed nearly 6,000 people. All India Radio quoted Andhra Home Minister K. Jana Reddy as saying a letter had been sent to the leftist group for unconditional talks on Oct. 2, a date that marks the birth anniversary of pacifist freedom struggle leader Mahatma Gandhi. The People's War Group has been fighting for land for poor peasants since the late 1960s and targets police and government property across half a dozen states although its main base is Andhra Pradesh. In recent years, the group is known to have built links with Nepal's powerful Maoist rebels through comrades in the northern state of Bihar on India's border with the Himalayan kingdom. Security agencies have warned of a red corridor stretching from Nepal to swathes of the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, which are all battling leftist extremists. The Congress government came to power in Andhra Pradesh promising to bring peace to the rebel-infested interior of the state. An earlier attempt to hold talks in 2002 failed after the then government led by a regional group refused to lift the ban on the People's War Group. |
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