Search continues for abducted cops

Police in Visakhapatnam district continued their search operations yesterday near the Andhra-Orissa borders for the four constables and a home guard abducted by Naxalites of the People's War Group (PWG) from the Anakapalle police station on Friday, but bad weather hindered their progress.

The director general of police, Pervaram Ramulu, and senior intelligence officers camped in the port town of Visakhapatnam waiting for the weather to clear to make an aerial survey of the border forest areas which are hideouts of the Naxalites in this area and whose operational activities spills over into Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

The reluctance of the Naxalites to made demands in return for the kidnapped policemen angered police in the area.

Yesterday, policemen wearing black badges protested outside the Anakapalle police station which was in a shambles after the bombing. They were supported by their families and demanded the release of their colleagues.

Before kidnapping the police, the militants blew up the Anakapalle and Chodavaram police stations and a government office in simultaneous raids.

Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation began a four-day central committee meeting in Vijayawada yesterday ahead of the party's seventh all-India Congress at Patna from November 25-29.

Its 37-member central committee began to review progress of the "save democracy, save independence campaign" started in different parts of India by the party on June 26, and finalise protests against "the most communal, venal and pro-imperialistic Vajpayee federal government," its general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said.

A special report of the CPI(ML) Liberation-affiliated all-India Progressive Women's Association on "atrocities committed on women belonging to the minority community" will also be discussed in Vijayawada.

Bhattacharya said the EC's report on Gujarat strengthened the Liberation's stand that it had become absolutely imperative to remove the caretaker Narendra Modi government and impose President's rule under a new Governor, as the present Governor S.S. Bhandari was "partisan".