Kolkata/Lalgarh: While the operation to flush out Maoists continued in Lalgarh and adjoining areas, West Bengal's leading intellectuals on Sunday visited the affected region and urged both the police and Maoists to lay down arms for a peaceful settlement.
Intellectuals of Bengal, under the umbrella of Swajan, visited Lalgarh and spoke to the villagers and Peoples' Committee against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) members as police operation entered its fourth day today.
"We request both the government and the Maoists to put down arms. The innocent villagers are suffering as they are caught in the crossfire between the two sides," said filmmaker Aparna Sen in Lalgarh.
Troops advance from Lalgarh toward Maoist-held villages
The team includes noted playwrights Saoli Mitra and Kaushik Sen among others. "We came across women who were stripped and beaten up and villagers said their drinking water sources were dirtied with human excreta and urine by the forces," Sen said.
Sen and her colleagues urged Mahato not to resort to armed movement so that they could dissociate them from the Maoists.
Softening their stand, People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) chief Chatradhar Mahato, who met the intellectuals, today appealed to the government and the Maoists alike to come to the negotiation table and resolve the Lalgarh conflict.
"We are caught in the crossfire between the two sides. We have no association with the Maoists but our villagers are leaving their homes in fear of police atrocities and bullets," Mahato said.
Tribals caught in Lalgarh crossfire
Responding to allegations of police atrocities on villagers of Lalgarh and adjoining areas, West Bengal Chief Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty said the government would ensure that the villagers did not suffer in police operation.
He urged the Maoists and the PCAPA to give up armed protests. "We urge them to lay down arms. Police is in our control but those resorting to politics of violence are not in our control. It is not safe for anyone - either the intellectuals, NGOs or the mediapersons- to venture in that area."
Police and paramilitary forces on Saturday entered Lalgarh town and regained its control.
The forces marched for miles behind an anti-landmine vehicle and negotiated forested terrains to take back the town of Lalgarh, about 170 km from Kolkata.
The area was overrun by Maoists who killed at least 10 ruling CPI-M members in the past weeks.
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