An all-party meeting held on Tuesday resolved to take Kannur, the northern Kerala district known for its history of murderous political violence, mainly between CPI(M) and BJP-RSS, to last peace through effective efforts for putting an end to political conflicts.
After the meeting held at the District Collectorate in Kannur, Marxist Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who led the discussions, told newsmen that the participating party delegates were unanimous in the hope of establishing peace in the violence-ravaged district. All participants pledged support to the efforts for making Kannur conflict-free.
The Chief Minister, himself a native of Kannur, said that all political parties and other organizations would work together for maintaining peace in the district. Observers hailed the 90-minute meeting, in which top leaders from different political leaders took part, as the beginning of a new chapter in the history of Kannur.
Pinarayi said that many of the recent incidents of violence were not planned by or were not perpetrated with the knowledge of the leaderships of the concerned parties. The opinion expressed generally at the meeting was that there were some sections that were not under the control of the leaderships were disrupting peace in Kannur, he said.
The meeting also decided that any understanding between the leaderships of the concerned parties should reach the grassroots and thus become a general understanding. The concerned leaderships should ensure that such understanding percolated to the lower levels. Pinarayi also said that there would be stringent moves to prevent making and storing of weapons.
“Weapons are being made and stored in some places. The police have been given instructions to seize such weapons,” Pinarayi said. “Weapons are being made and stored in isolated places without the knowledge of party leaderships. A large part of such weapons storages have already been unearthed by the police through bold moves,” he added.
The Chief Minister took the initiative for the all-party meet in accordance with the BJP’s position that any meeting without his direct involvement would be futile. He had convened a meeting of the top leaders of the CPI(M) and the BJP-RSS on Monday in Thiruvananthapuram ahead of Tuesday’s all-party meet.
Apart from the Chief Minister, Ports Minister Kadannappally Ramachandran, CPI(M)’s State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, former State BJP president PK Krishnadas, RSS Pranth Karyavah P Gopalankutty Master, PK Sreemathy MP and leaders of the Congress party, CPI and Muslim league participated in the all-party meeting.
“We have given the assurance that the BJP would extend whole-hearted support to all sincere efforts for establishing peace,” said Krishnadas after the meeting. The demands raised by the BJP at the meeting were freedom for organizational work in the district and impartial intervention of the police in the issues, Krishnadas said.
The meeting was held in the context of the escalation in tension in various parts of Kannur, which had witnessed seven political murders in the past nine months and incidents of violence almost on a daily basis. Three of the latest incidents of political killings had taken place in Dharmadom, the Chief Minister’s own constituency.
Recalling an instance where the police had withdrawn from its operation intended at capturing the culprits in a particular case of violence after they were blocked by a group of political activists, Pinarayi said the police should not turn back from their missions by succumbing to pressures. “The police should act like real police in such situations,” the Chief Minister said.
Party delegates to the meeting were united in their opinion that attacks against places of worship, houses, shops and vehicles as part of the conflict should not be repeated under any circumstance. Stringent action would be taken to ensure that incidents of violence did not occur in connection with festivals, the Chief Minister said.