Bihar hostage crisis: Govt starts talks with Maoists
Patna: Bihar government hopes to secure the release of all the four police officials kidnapped by Maoists by Thursday evening. Bihar government sources told CNN-IBN that local level discussions have been initiated with the Maoists and the deadline for the safe release of the four policemen has been extended. The sources also claimed that all the abducted policemen were safe.
The state government has reportedly stopped all movement of the security forces in Lakhisari, Munger and Jamui districts till further order and is expecting a positive result by Thursday evening. The Maoists have threatened to execute the abducted policemen if the government did not stop its combing operations.
The Maoists had twice set the deadline for the safe release of the abducted policemen. While the first deadline expired at 4 pm Wednesday evening, the second deadline was of 10 am Thursday morning. They have also been demanding that Operation Green Hunt be called off. While families of the abducted policemen wait anxiously for their release, politicians have started a war of words over hostage crisis.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad lashed out at Nitish Kumar government handling of the matter while BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad defended his ally.
"It is because of the inefficiency of the Nitish Kumar government that Maoist menace has spread to 2/3rd's of Bihar," said Lalu.
"It is the most unfortunate incident. Bihar government is very serious on the matter. We hope a solution will come about. There has to be a unified response. The Government of Bihar has ensured that there is development and peace in the state. Bihar has not seen any major Maoist-related violence in the recent times," said Prasad.
Senior Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan appealed to the Bihar government to put an end to Operation Greenhunt.
"It's an unfortunate situation that poor and innocent people from both the sides are getting killed. Initiative should come squarely from the Government of Bihar. I appeal to the government to call off Operation Greenhunt," said Bhusan.
"To say that everything is fine with Bihar is not a correct assessment of the situation. Bihar has not suddenly become a land of milk and honey under Nitish Kumar. Poor are still being oppressed in the state," he said.
The families of the abducted policemen have been pleading the Maoist to release them. Families of the hostages have also pleaded before the Bihar DGP for help and also met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna on Thursday morning.
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