India frees Nepali Maoist leaders to boost peace
Source: Reuters
MALDA, India, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Two senior leaders of Nepal's Maoist rebels were released from jail in the Indian state of West Bengal on Thursday, prison officials said, after all charges against them were dropped. Chandra Prakash Gajurel and Mohan Baidya -- both of whom are close to Maoist supremo Prachanda -- were freed from Jalpaiguri central jail, 600 km (370 miles) north of state capital Kolkata, as part of peace moves between Nepal's coalition government and the guerrillas. "We have released thirteen (Maoist) activists, including Nepali Maoist leaders," Debasis Mukhopadhayay, jail superintendent told Reuters. The others freed were Maoists of Indian nationality. Officials in West Bengal said the state government had ordered their release, citing a recent peace agreement between Nepal's government and the rebels. The two leaders were believed to be returning to Nepal. Their lawyer said they had been arrested in 2004 on charges of helping to organise Maoist fighters in India, engaged in what the rebels say is a fight on behalf of poor labourers and landless peasants. India's Maoists operate in 13 of India's 29 states along what is called a "red corridor" stretching from the border with Nepal to the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. Hundreds of people, including more than 75 Nepali Maoist sympathisers, greeted them as they walked free from jail. Nepal's government and the rebels last week signed a comprehensive peace accord declaring a formal end to a decade-old conflict in which more than 13,000 people have died. The guerrillas formed an alliance in 2001 with their ideological counterparts in India, and have long been accused of training and arming them.
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