Maoist attack follows truce call
India Blooms News Service
Kolkata, Feb 23 (IBNS): A leader of a Maoist-backed organisation in West Bengal was killed in an encounter with police Sunday night, hours after the rebels offered a 72-day truce to prepare the ground for talks.
Lalmohan Tudu, a leader of a police resistance movement called Police Santrosh Birodhi Janasadharan Committee or the People’s Committee against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) was killed in retaliatory fire by the police, officials said.
TV reports said two others were also killed in the encounter at Katapahari in West Midnapore district.
The encounter began around 10 pm.
PCAPA, however, alleged that Tudu was killed after he was forced out of his house.
According to reports, the rebels attacked a police camp, which followed a gunbattle that lasted for at least two hours. Three Maoists were killed in the encounter.
The rebels reportedly took away two bodies, while the third, that of Tudu was left behind and police ultimate found it.
On Monday, the Maoist leadership in eastern India has asked the Centre to suspend anti-rebel operation for 72 days beginning Feb 25 for peace talks suggested by the government. The condition followed the call for a 72 hour halt in violence by the Maoists requested by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram to prepare atmosphere for talks.
The Maoists called for suspension of police and paramilitary force offensive from Feb 25 to May 7.
According to media reports in New Delhi, the Union Home Ministry has rejected the offer as a ploy by the rebels to regroup. The cessation in the operation of the government largely pertains to the ongoing operation in West Bengal’s Lalgarh and adjoining jungle and tribal areas, an offensive now coined as “Operation Green Hunt”.
The offensive of the government began in June last year after the rebels took control of Lalgarh area completely. The combined forces of state police and central forces later regained control of Lalgarh.
But the Maoists on Feb 15 sent a violent message by killing 24 Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) personnel and a civilian at the Silda police camp of West Midnapore district in West Bengal in one of the most brazen attacks in recent times.
The Maoists called the action “Operation Peace Hunt” to counter “Operation Green Hunt”.
The Maoists said they want to hold talks with the participation of the intellectuals.
Earlier P Chidambaram said he was offering talks to the Maoists if they abjure violence for 72 hours so that he could consult everyone and find a way out
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