Sukma collector safe, say mediators after meeting Maoists
29 April 2012 6:12 PM GMT
The two interlocutors - Hyderabad-based professor G Hargopal and former IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officer B D Sharma - had met the Maoists on Saturday with a message from the Chhattisgarh government, and emerged from the rebels-commanded area on Sunday morning with a reply from them.
They stated that abducted Sukma collector Alex Paul Menon is safe.
The mediators told mediapersons in the Chintalnar area of the state's violence-hit Sukma district, some 500 km south from here, 'We had a detailed talk with top Maoists leaders during our overnight stay in the jungle and briefed them about the talk we had with government mediators in Raipur regarding the two demands for Menon's release.'
However, they refused to give details of the Maoists' reply to the local media, saying, 'Collector Menon is safe, we will share our discussion with Maoists only with the government-mediators in Raipur.'
Hargopal and Sharma visited the Maoist hideout after holding several rounds of closed-door marathon meetings with two government mediators - Nirmala Buch, former Madhya Pradesh chief secretary, and S K Mishra, former chief secretary of Chhattisgarh - at Raipur's state guest house.
Official sources said the Chhattisgarh government, which is desperate to ensure the safe release of Menon, has positively responded to the Maoists' two demands - release of 17 jailed ultras and a halt to the anti-Maoist drive, Operation Green Hunt.
'We are highly optimistic about the early and safe release of the young IAS officer,' said a senior official at police headquarters here.
Menon, 32, was abducted at gunpoint April 21 by rebels from a forested location in Sukma. The Maoists shot dead his two guards who resisted his abduction.
They stated that abducted Sukma collector Alex Paul Menon is safe.
The mediators told mediapersons in the Chintalnar area of the state's violence-hit Sukma district, some 500 km south from here, 'We had a detailed talk with top Maoists leaders during our overnight stay in the jungle and briefed them about the talk we had with government mediators in Raipur regarding the two demands for Menon's release.'
However, they refused to give details of the Maoists' reply to the local media, saying, 'Collector Menon is safe, we will share our discussion with Maoists only with the government-mediators in Raipur.'
Hargopal and Sharma visited the Maoist hideout after holding several rounds of closed-door marathon meetings with two government mediators - Nirmala Buch, former Madhya Pradesh chief secretary, and S K Mishra, former chief secretary of Chhattisgarh - at Raipur's state guest house.
Official sources said the Chhattisgarh government, which is desperate to ensure the safe release of Menon, has positively responded to the Maoists' two demands - release of 17 jailed ultras and a halt to the anti-Maoist drive, Operation Green Hunt.
'We are highly optimistic about the early and safe release of the young IAS officer,' said a senior official at police headquarters here.
Menon, 32, was abducted at gunpoint April 21 by rebels from a forested location in Sukma. The Maoists shot dead his two guards who resisted his abduction.
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