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In a significant development, a Maoist ideologue and a human rights activists have appealed to the Maoists in Chhattisgarh to immediately release the four policemen abducted by them.
Revolutionary Telugu poet and a Maoist sympathiser Vara Vara Rao made the appeal to the CPI (Maoist) through the electronic media to immediately release the hostages without harming them. "there is a sense of urgency because I want to tell the Maoists not to harm the abducted policemen", he said hoping that his call will evoke a positive response.
The Maoists had abducted seven policemen on Sunday and three of them were later found dead in Bijapur district area of Chhattisgarh.
Professor B Haragopal of Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC) has also urged the Maoists not to harm the abducted policemen and release them immediately. "It is not all a revolutionary or humanitarian method", he said in a statement.
He pointed out that after APCLC's campaign in Andhra Pradesh, the Maoists had stopped abductions since 1993, he said urging their counterparts in Chhattisgarh to follow it. At the same time he urged the central government to actively consider reviving peace talks with the Maoists and reconsider the option of operation Green Hunt.
He denied that people like him were making the appeal under some kind of pressure. "The APCLC has always made such appeals, and successfully so in Andhra Pradesh", he said.