No headway yet in release of political prisoners

The human rights organisations are divided over the modalities and over the terms of reference set by the government for releasing the political prisoners.

On July 8,Mamata Banerjee announced that 46 political prisoners,three of whom are reportedly senior CPI (Maoist) leaders,would be released within the next three days. The three Maoist leaders likely to be released are Chandi Sarkar,Sushil Roy and Patitpaban Halder,said a member of the committee set up to review the cases of political prisoners.

A senior member of the review committee said,“We recommended 83 names for the status of political prisoners. Of them,Chief Minister selected 46 for early release. The list has been prepared and the names will be disclosed before July 21.”

However,the split among the rights organisations became prominent after two conventions on the release of the political prisoners were organised in a gap of three days. Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) and 22 other rights organisations organized their convention on July 11,while Bandi Mukti Committee held a convention on the issue on July 14.

Several senior rights activists tried to bring the two groups together. At a time,when Nabarun Bhattacharya,author and son of Mahashweta Devin raised doubts over the “intention” and “hidden agendas” of the new government regarding the release of the political prisoners,Mahashweta Devi,on July 14,urged to have faith in the new government and asked the rights organisation to let the government decide on its policy.

“We will not be able to win if we are not united,” she said at a convention.

Significantly,a senior naxalite leader and a member of APDR said,“This is for the first time,when we see a government is becoming successful in dividing the naxal-minded people. Apparently,this divide is a great setback for us.”

According to statistics available with the department of Correctional Services,a total of 267 political activists including 193 persons having alleged connection with the CPI (Maoist) and 43 Greater Cooch Behar Peoples’ Association (GCPA) members are languishing behind the bars in different correctional homes. Of them,83 have been declared as political prisoners. But according to human rights organisations like Bandi Mukti Committee and APDR,the number of political prisoners in the state is about 430.