Civil rights groups decry US terror list

The inclusion of People's War group and Maoist Communist Centre in the US list of terrorist organisations has surprised civil rights groups in Andhra Pradesh.

Also Read US adds 4 Indian outfits to terror list

"The United States is assuming the role of global policeman. It has no right to interfere in Indian affairs," People's Union for Civil Liberties president and lawyer, K G Kannabiran, said.

Revolutionary ballad singer Gaddar too criticised the US action, saying it was linked to the poor performance of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party in the just-concluded elections to the state assembly and Lok Sabha. "The World Bank has a big stake in the state and the PW has openly asked people to oppose the TDP-BJP alliance. The PW balanced the equation in the elections," he pointed out.

The US State Department, in its annual report 'Patterns of Global Terrorism 2003,' placed the People's War and the MCC in the category of  "other foreign terrorist organisations."

Members of these outfits, if found in the US, would be deported. The FTO tag for an organisation entails freezing of its assets in US institutions. It also bars US citizens or people within the US jurisdiction to provide such outfits with material support or resources.

The State Department report said the PW was instrumental in organising the Coordination Centre of Maoist Parties of South Asia, Revolutionary International Movement of Maoists and a couple of other frontal organisations to fight against
globalisation.

The Indian government has already included PW and MCC in the list of terrorist organisations under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

The Andhra Pradesh government imposed a ban on the People's War and its six frontal organisations on May 21, 1992. The ban has been in force for 12 years, barring a few months in 1995-96 when it was relaxed by the TDP government.

The Chandrababu Naidu government re-imposed the ban in July 1996 in view of increasing violence by the PW.

The PW operates mainly in AP, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, MP and Bihar.

Welcoming the inclusion of PW in the US terror list, Home Minister T Devender Goud said: "Everybody is now realising how difficult it is to tackle the Naxalite menace. The inclusion of PW in the terror list only vindicates our stand that the Naxalites have been indulging in violence and destruction."

The PW and MCC are planning a merger that would make the new outfit the most formidable militant outfit in India. Their primary motive, together with the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), is to spread into new areas to carve out a compact revolutionary zone spreading from Nepal through Bihar and the Danda-Karanya region to Andhra Pradesh.