HYDERABAD, June 15: A coordination committee headed by the Union Home Secretary has been constituted to evolve a common programme to deal with the Naxalite problem in the four affected states - Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Orissa.The committee, comprising Chief Secretaries and Director Generals of Police of the four states, will meet every month at Hyderabad.This was one of the main decisions taken at the conference of chief ministers presided over by Union Home Minister LK Advani here today. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh and Maharashtra Deputy Chief minister Gopinath Munde participated in the discussions. Orissa was represented by senior officials.The other decision was that the Union Home Minister will hold review meetings with the chief ministers and home ministers of the four states twice a year.The task of the coordination centre will be to ensure implementation of the decisions relating to development plansin the affected areas, upgradation of technology for the police force involved in anti-Naxalite operations and tightening the legal system.The meeting discussed the question of banning People's War Group (PWG) in the other three states (it is already banned in AP) but a decision in this regard has been left to the respective State governments. The states were, however, advised to formulate their own laws on the lines of the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act, 1998, to effectively deal with the left wing extremism.Addressing a press conference after the discussions, Advani parried questions relating to Central assistance to the affected states for dealing with the problem. He merely said that "all such requests are being examined by the Union Home Ministry."Advani said the meeting was "purposeful and businesslike" and had a word of praise for the "thorough presentation" made by Chandrababu Naidu on the problem. The participants expressed a firm resolve to counter the threat to democracyand Constitution from extremist activity, he said.Admitting that the Naxalite issue was not just a law and order problem, the Home Minister, however, said that the tendency to treat it as a socio-economic problem gave "legitimacy and respectability to extremists who do not deserve it". However, all states felt that developmental activities in affected areas should be pursued vigorously to weaken the extremists.In this context, Advani pointed out that members of weaker sections - SCs, STs and BCs - have been the principal victims of Naxalite violence. He disagreed with the view that the problem has become unmanageable.He once again refused to make any comment on the law and order situation in Andhra Pradesh. "I have not come here to assess the situation. In any case, the state government was able to contain the recent communal violence effectively within a short period," he observed.According to him, the situation in the state did not merit the Centre's attention and there was no need to send acentral team.Terrorism, Advani said has blurred the distinctive nature of a war on the borders by making every street and every home a frontier of the nation. "It is not a coincidence that all the terrorist organisations operating in India should have not only networked themselves for the flow of arms and ammunition and funds, but should also be in direct and indirect contact with sources that pose a threat to India's external security".
