People's Democracy

Concern over Ceasefire Violations

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), while in session at Kolkata, issued the following statement on January 17, 2013.

THE Central Committee expressed its deep concern at the raising of tensions on the Line of Control in Jammu & Kashmir. It strongly condemned the killing of two of the Indian soldiers on January 8 and the beheading of one of them. The government of India should take a firm stand and convey to the Pakistan authorities that such attacks are unacceptable and cannot be tolerated.

The ceasefire adopted on the Line of Control in 2003 had served the purpose of maintaining a relatively peaceful border all these years, and the deterioration of the situation on the Line of Control should be checked. For this, high level talks should be held with the government of Pakistan to ensure that such violations of the ceasefire do not recur.

The government of India should, while adopting this firm stance, also ensure that the dialogue process with Pakistan continues. There should be no curbs on the people to people relations being developed between the two countries.

DECONTROL OF

DIESEL PRICES

The Central Committee condemned the decision of the UPA government to decontrol diesel prices. This will lead to continuous increase in the prices of diesel just as it happened with the prices of petrol after deregulation. The rise in the prices of diesel will impact on transport and increase inflation. It will also affect farmers adversely. The UPA government is adamant about further burdening the people who are already suffering from ever increasing price rise of all essential commodities.

In this connection, the decision to raise the cap on LPG cylinders to nine is insufficient and provides little relief.