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15 October 2009

Appeal

As you are aware, the government has launched a major offensive in the Naxalite areas and the armed conflict between the Government and Maoists is reaching dangerous proportions in several parts of the country. In these conditions, the real issues that concern the people are relegated to the background- such as food security, land and forest rights, education, health and justice besides their multi-faceted exploitation. Citizens outside the affected areas are denied access to the region as a result of which no true picture about the plight of the local population is available. All these issues need to be immediately addressed, which is only possible under conditions of peace and justice.

Concerned individuals from various parts of the country have come together to form the Citizens Initiative for Peace. We have proposed some simple yet urgent demands for which the government must initiate the process:

1. The government should stop the offensive in the areas where the CPI (Maoist) and other naxalite parties are active, in order to facilitate a ceasefire
2. The CPI (Maoist) and other naxalite parties should cease all hostilities against the state forces to facilitate a ceasefire
3. Dialogue must begin between Government and CPI (Maoist)
4. Free access to the affected areas should be provided to the independent civil organizations and media
5. People’s basic livelihood needs must be addressed urgently.

We request you to endorse this appeal and strengthen the Citizens Initiative for Peace.

Members of the Citizens Initiative for Peace include:

Rabi Ray, Rajindar Sachar, Mahasweta Devi, Rajni Kothari, K G Kannabiran, Ajit Bhattacharjea, Kuldeep Nayar, PB Sawant, Muchkund Dubey, Prabhash Joshi, B K Roy Burman, D. Bandyopadhyay, B D Sharma, S R Sankaran, Binayak Sen, Amit Bhaduri, Randhir Singh, Medha Patkar, Aruna Roy, Sumit Chakravartty, Sujato Bhadra, Teesta Setalvad, Lingaraj, Manoranjan Mohanty, Ramachandra Guha, Sandeep Pandey, G Haragopal, KB Saxena, Harsh Mander, D Narasimha Reddy, Anoop Saraya, Pushkar Raj, Shabnam Hashmi, SC Behar, Bhagabat Prasad Rath, Swadhin Pattanayak, Harivansh, Himanshu Kumar, Praful Samantara, Kavita Srivastava, Saraswati Swain, Rabindranath Sahoo, Madhu Sarin, Nandini Sundar, Ravi Hemadri, S.R. Darapuri, Sudhir Pattnaik, Suhas Borkar, Satya Sivaraman, Apoorvanand, Ajay Dandekar, and many others