Left to Govt: Tell US not to meddle

New Delhi: The Left parties on Friday asked the Centre to direct the Chhattisgarh government not to accept the offer by the United States to help tackle Naxalism, and wondered why Washington was being allowed to "interfere" in India's internal matters.

The US had offered help to remove thousands of mines planted by Naxals and train its police force to battle the insurgents.

They also offered humanitarian relief to the camps for tribals.

While the CPI(M) said the UPA government should clarify the situation, the CPI demanded that a warning be issued to US embassay officials saying India was capable of tackling such issues on its own.

Reports had said the US officials on Thursday offered all assistance to Chhattisgarh to deal with extremists and that the state government had welcomed the offer.

"The US has no business involving itself in internal security and law and order issues. The attitude of the BJP government in Chhattisgarh is condemnable as no state government has the right to involve foreign countries in internal security matters," CPI-M politburo said in a statement.

The Left party demanded that the UPA government convey to the US embassy that such "involvement" in politics and internal security matters of the country was "unacceptable".

CPI leaders A B Bardhan and Shamim Faizi said such meddling was not new for the US, and recalled US Ambassador David Mulford's letter to West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee criticising his remarks against the American inteference in India's internal matters.

"The US embassy should be warned that this blatant interference in the internal affairs of our country will not be tolerated," the CPI leaders said.

They said US officials should immediately apologise for their offer of help to Chhattisgarh.

Chhattisgarh is the worst-affected among at least 13 states battling armed Naxals who say they are fighting for the rights of millions of impoverished peasants and landless labourers.

Thousands have died in Naxal violence in the past three decades with a spike in attacks in the past 17 months - especially landmine blasts - causing a number of deaths.

The US offer to help Chhattisgarh is the first known foreign proposal of aid in India's fight against Naxalites.

Last month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said that Naxals were a big threat to the internal security of India.