Hyderabad, Oct 07: A week after an assassination bid on Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu by naxalites, the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) today urged for a 15-day ceasefire to create a cordial atmosphere for the state government and CPI-ML (Naxalite) groups to re-start negotiations to put an end to the three-decade long bloody conflict. We are in favour of a ceasefire from both sides for two weeks as a mutual assurance and involve as many groups as possible in dialogue process to work out a solution, PUCL state chief, Kehav Rao Jadhav told reporters here.

Condemning the attack on Naidu and also the vindictive statements of police, Jadhav said, “We were the first to call for a dialogue between the two to bring an end to violence in the state.” Since Deputy Prime Minsiter L K Advani too conceded that the issue has a socio-economic dimension, it is time to consider reopening of the dialogue, he said adding that PUCL wrote a letter to Advani in July itself highlighting the need for a dialogue between naxals and state.

Jadhav said the two week ceasefire, which implies no action from naxals or police, would pave way for more meaningful talks which should involve the state government representatives, naxal groups and civil liberties organisations. In the past 30 years, thousands of civilians, political workers, naxals and policemen were killed, about 700 buses and 180 telephone facilities were destroyed and it's time to stop the violence and counter-violence and re-channelise the energies to more constructive work, he said.

Bureau Report