Midnapore (WB): Tribals protesting the
detaining of 25 youths by security forces on Tuesday blocked roads
leading to Lalgarh from the district headquarters town of
West Midnapore.
Felled trees were used to block the Bhadutala-Pirakata
road to block vehicles from the Kadasole camp of securitymen,
the police said.
More than a thousand tribal women gheraoed the Kadasole
camp to protest against the detaining of the youths from
Mahultala, Ratanpur and Shalka villages near Lalgarh, they
said.
The youths, who were detained for suspected Maoist
links, were later released and the roads were being cleared,
sources said.
Meanwhile, the police seized three objects which were
believed to be landmines, but turned out to be empty cans.
The Maoists chief on Sunday said there was no
alternative to the "politics of consensus" and hinted at
joining a political mechanism with the ruling alliance so as
to break the five-month-long political deadlock.
"There is no alternative to the politics of
cooperation and collaboration to find a way of the present
political stalemate," Prachanda told reporters here after
meeting Nepali Congress chief G P Koirala.
Describing President Yadav's move to reinstate General
Katawal as "unconstitutional and undemocratic", Prachanda had
threatened to launch a people's revolution after the end of
the festival season.
The political standoff has put new stresses on Nepal's
reconciliation efforts after the end of the decade-long
insurgency in 2006, amid fears that the stalled peace process
may be derailed if the Maoists agitation is not ended soon.
The Maoists, who waged a decade-long insurgency,
joined mainstream politics after a 2006 peace deal with the
interim government led by G. P. Koirala.
CPN-Maoist formed Nepal's first post-royal government
on August 22 after the former rebels emerged as the largest
party in the April 10 constituent assembly polls last year.
The government collapsed amid dispute with the
President over the reinstatement of Gen Katawal. The ultra
left party was also instrumental in the abolition of the
country's unpopular 240-year-old monarchy.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, September 29, 2009, 21:28