Hope of an early release of abducted Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon appeared to have dimmed on Sunday, with Naxals rejecting the proposals given by the Chhattisgarh government to meet their demands in exchange of the IAS officer’s freedom.
This was indicated by the Maoist mediators, who returned here after holding night-long consultations with the rebel leaders on Saturday in the Tadmetla forest in Chhattisgarh’s Datnewada district on state government’s response to their demands.
The two interlocutors — former Bastar district collector B.D. Sharma and Hyderabad-based academician professor G. Hargopal — however said, “Mr Menon is safe and sound” in Maoist custody. Mr Sharma claimed that they had not met the 32-year-old bureaucrat, held hostage by rebels since April 21, during their talks with the rebel leaders in their hideout.
“I do not foresee an early resolution to the hostage crisis. New issues have now cropped up. Naxals did not agree to the proposals, barring one, given by the state government to meet their demands in exchange of Mr Menon’s release,” Mr Sharma told reporters after arriving here from Chintalnar by a copter in the afternoon.
Later in the evening, the two mediators held third round of talks with their government counterparts — retired bureaucrats Nirmala Buch and S.K. Mishra — on conditions set by Naxal leaders through them. The marathon four-hour-long meeting, considered crucial, ended inconclusively.
The mediators from both the sides parried all questions by waiting reporters after the meeting, saying, “We will resume our talks tomorrow (Monday). We cannot divulge on deliberations of the meeting at the juncture to avoid any kind of controversy.”
Earlier in the morning, the outlaws’ negotiators surfaced at Tadmetla forest road after spending about 22 hours in the dense jungles to hold talks with rebel leaders. Then they were taken to the Chintalnar CRPF camp on motorcycles by a few local scribes present there.
Mr Sharma said top rebel leaders were present at the discussion. He, however, declined to identify them. He also refused to explain on which points, proposed by the state government, the ultras differed. “We cannot disclose everything to the media,” Prof. Hargopal said.