Hostage row: Ch'garh govt opens talks with Maoists

Chhattisgarh government Thursday opened negotiations with Maoists-appointed mediators to secure the release of abducted Sukma collector Alex Pal Menon and both sides described the exercise as "positive".

Former chief secretary of Madhya Pradesh Nirmala Buch told reporters after the first day's talks, which remained inconclusive, that the discussions were 'positive' and though there was no outcome, the government was confident about quick resolution of the 6-day hostage crisis.

Further talks would resume Friday, he said.

Professor Hargopal, a former vice-president of Andhra Pradesh civil liberties committee named by Maoists as a mediator from their side, said today's meeting of four mediators went on for three hours but it was preliminary in nature though "positive".

The mediators would brief their respective sides about today's discussion and talks would continue tomorrow, he said.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Raman Singh said the demands of the abductors would be considered only within the legal framework.

He also said that looking at the frequency of such incidents, it seemed Maoists were using abduction as a 'weapon' and the central and the state governments should keep this strategy of the ultras in mind.

Responding to a query, he said Maoists were certainly getting sophisticated weapons from abroad and the Centre should take action in this regard.

While the government chose former chief secretaries of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Nirmala Buch and S K Mishra as its mediators to resolve hostage crisis, the Maoists named former National SC/ST Commission chairperson B D Sharma and Prof G Hargopal as their nominees.

Naxals abducted Sukma Collector Menon from Majhipara village when he was holding a meeting as part of the government's special Gram Suraj Abhiyan on April 21.