SRIKRISHNA TIES T IN KNOTS-Report Rekindles T Fire In OU

Minutes after the Srikrishna Committee report was made public on Thursday morning,the volatile OU  campus erupted in violence with the students fighting pitched battles with the security forces throughout the day.In the violence that continued till late in the night,at least six persons were injured including students and security personnel.After the security forces lobbed over a 100 stun grenades and teargas shells,the students retaliated by pelting stones at the security forces at various points of conflict and the campus resembled a war zone.Among the injured were Task Force additional DCP M Srinivasulu who was admitted to Yashoda Hospital in Malakpet,Nallkunta SI K Ravi Kumar, students Naveen, Sampath Kumar,Laxmiprasad and Ramesh.Unconfirmed reports said Ravikumar an LLB student undergoing treatment at Gandhi hospital was allegedly hit by a bullet.City police commissioner in a late night release claimed that 15 rounds of rubber bullets were fired at the OU campus.

In the violence on Thursday that may be indicative of the shape of things to follow,both the security forces and the students displayed new battle tactics.After finding that the students were disarming the teargas shells that were lobbed at them by quickly immersing them in mud in the previous instances of violence,the police brought in the stun grenades this time that delivered a loud noise equivalent to high-pitched Diwali crackers. The students,on the other hand,masked themselves with handkerchiefs while attacking buses and other vehicles so that they are not identified. The violence on Thursday began just as APSRTC sent a relief vehicle (AP10Z-1660 ) to remove the Musheerabad-bound bus that was burnt by students late on Wednesday night.When the relief vehicle towing the bus reached OU Arts College at 11.45 am,the students who had gathered there in strength,stopped the vehicle and set it ablaze.At the same time,another group of students tried to break out of the campus on the Vidyanagar side and were lathicharged and chased back by the cops.

The students later took out a rally from OU Arts College to universitys NCC Gate and tried to spill out onto the main road around 1.10 pm.The police,however,stopped them by firing the stun grenades.In the firing,two students sustained serious injuries.While Naveen,a PG student of the university was hit on the head by a shell,Laxmiprasad,an MA Economics student,was injured on the knee. The stand-off at the Eflu gate near B Hostel continued till 1.50 pm at which point the police successfully disbursed the protesting students.Meanwhile,a 108 ambulance that was trying to remove injured students from the campus was stopped at the main gate of the university by the police and was not allowed to leave for over 15 minutes. The next round of violence commenced at 2.40 pm when a group of students took out a rally to OU police station and started pelting stones at the paramilitary forces standing guard before the English and Foreign Languages University (Eflu) building.At around 4.40 pm,a school student who had come to participate in the agitation,got injured by a stun grenade used by the forces.The violence continued till around 7 pm.
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Panel Plumps For United AP With T Regional Council


In the tussle for Telangana,the much-awaited Srikrishna report has strongly plumped for united Andhra Pradesh, citing cruciality of Hyderabad for all regions of state and the fear of violence as key hurdles in the way of division.But the rejection of the demand for bifurcation of the state has come with strong acknowledgement of statehood sentiment in Telangana,with the committee saying that status quo cannot hold indefinitely in view of the popular wish in the volatile region.

The committee has said that the state can be divided into Telangana and Seemandhra,with Hyderabad as the formers capital,only if it was unavoidable and could be clinched peacefully. The continuing demand for separate Telangana has some merit and is not entirely unjustified, the five-member committee led by retired SC judge B N Srikrishna has said. Notwithstanding the attempt to balance matters against the backdrop of violence in regions and by Maoists,the committee has unambiguously argued that the best way forward was a united AP where a statutory and Empowered Telangana Regional Council was created to take care of the interests of Telangana.

It suggests that the creation of the Regional Council will mean that there is no status quo for Telangana even if the boundaries of AP are not disturbed.The Regional Council which is proposed to have adequate funds,functions and functionaries is conceived as a consultative /advisory body to the state assembly on policy issues concerning the Telangana region. The panel concedes that this model may trigger a backlash in Telangana in the short-term,along with pressure on legislators to resign,but will meet wider acceptance in not just coastal and Rayalaseema regions but also Hyderabad. It is implied that the state should be ready for strong measures to tackle the initial reaction till the message of regional council percolates down to people.
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KCR says no compromise on T,Hyd
 
Outrightly rejecting the best option put forth by the Srikrishna Committee suggesting status quo and the formation of a Telangana regional council,TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao said that the people of the region will accept nothing less that a separate Telangana state with Hyderabad as its capital. I earnestly appeal to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh not to dilly-dally on the issue and fulfil the promises made on December 9 and 10 last year and grant Telangana.Do not test the patience of the people of the region.If Telangana does not happen,nobody will be allowed to live in peace, thundered KCR at Indira Park where his supporters as well as other regional leaders had gathered to discuss the fallout of the Srikrishna Committee report on Thursday afternoon.

Stressing on self-respect and selfrule as the major demands of the people of the region,the TRS chief warned that he would not hesitate to sit on a fast unto death again in case there is no forward movement on the creation of Telangana.If political battalions enter the field,there will be no need for the police battalions stationed there, he said. KCR ridiculed the recommendations of the report by saying that by suggesting the constitution of a regional council for Telangana,the committee itself was acknowledging that it was under-developed as compared to the other regions.

The TRS chief later huddled in a meeting with the other Telangana groups and called for an educational bandh in the region on Friday in protest against the violence on the OU campus on Thursday. Another meeting is slated for Friday to discuss the next course of action.
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Case against 2 panel members

Based on the directions given by a local court,city police registered cases against Ravinder Kaur and Abu Saleh Shariff,members of the Srikrishna Committee,for allegedly hurting the sentiments of Muslims and Christians.In a petition filed before a local court on Wednesday,Telangana Peoples Forum general secretary Mohammed Valiur Rehman stated that,while talking to a TV channel on December 30,the two members had said that Muslims,Christians and women were interested in their development rather than in the movement for a separate state.Responding to the petition,the II Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Nampally criminal courts directed the Abids police to conduct an inquiry.Following the courts direction,Abids police slapped cases against the two members on Thursday.
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(source-toi)