BHUBANESWAR: Despite announcements of interlocutors, trust deficit seems to have come in the way of beginning the negotiation process with the Maoists to ensure safe release of the two Italians. Two mediators the rebels had named backed out saying there is not enough commitment by the Government as seen during the hostage crisis last year when then Malkangiri Collector Vineel Krishna was kidnapped. As uncertainty prevailed over the timing of the negotiation process, the Government announced names of three bureaucrats to negotiate with the Maoists for the release of the Italians. The deadline, which was set on Tuesday evening, has been extended by another 24 hours. Going by all indications, the Government faces a tough task to begin the negotiation process. Biswapriya Kanungo, one of the mediators named by the Maoists on Monday, backed out on Tuesday. So did Prafulla Samantaray, who said, when the Government does not have trust in him or his movement, there is no meaning talking with the Government. The State Government on Tuesday rejected the name of Maoist Narayan Sanyal __ lodged in a Chhattisgarh jail and one of the three interlocutors initially proposed by the rebels on Monday. The other interlocutor, Kanungo, named by the Maoists, expressed his inability to be part of the negotiation process. Announcing this in the Assembly, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had urged the Maoists to give two alternative names to start negotiations immediately. Soon after, the Maoists suggested two more names __ social activist B D Sharma and rights activist Prafulla Samantray __ for talks. Samantray declined to accept the offer. The Maoists had on Monday night named Sanyal, politburo member of CPI(Maoist) currently lodged in jail, and civil rights activists Dandapani Mohanty and Biswapriya Kanungo, to hold talks. In his statement in the Assembly, Naveen said Sanyal has been convicted for life imprisonment in Chhattisgarh under sections 124(a) and 120(b) of Indian Penal Code and also undergoing varying jail terms. Therefore, it is not possible to accept him as a mediator, he said. Kanungo was willing to talk “if the Maoists as well as the State Government want me as a mediator.” “However, the Chief Minister’s statement in the Assembly shows that the Government does not want me as a mediator,” he said. The Government, however, has no problem with Dandapani Mohanty as a mediator. But Mohanty refuted the Chief Minister’s statement in the Assembly. He said the case relating to Narayan Sanyal is pending in the Supreme Court, while one of the co-accused in the case has been released. There would have been no difficulty in accepting Sanyal as an interlocutor, he said. For its part, the Government has announced the names of three bureaucrats as negotiators. They are: Principal Secretary in the Home department U N Behera, Secretary in the Panchayatiraj department P K Jena and secretary in the SC & ST Development department S K Sarangi. The Government also claimed that the hostages are safe and unharmed. Chief Secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik told mediapersons after a high level meeting that the two kidnapped Italians are safe. The Maoists have demanded a halt to Operation Green Hunt, lifting of ban on CPI(Maoist) and its sister outfits, action against erring police personnel involved in ‘fake encounters,’ and release of Subhasree Das (wife of Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda), Gananath Patra and other tribals arrested on the charge of being part of Maoist groups.
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