THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, DEC 5: CPI(M) general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet has called for earnest efforts to restore peace in Kannur district.Talking to mediapersons here yesterday, he said that his party was worried about the situation in Kannur. This was not the time for fault-finding but for united efforts to contain violence, he added.The fact that Chief Minister E.K. Nayanar had met both the BJP as well as the RSS leaders and had called an all-party meeting was a ``big thing'' and would help diffuse the tension in Kannur, Surjeet said. It was for local leaders to carry out the decisions of the peace conference, he added. Asked whether he was prepared to make a call to his partymen to lay down arms, he said: ``If I do so, it would amount to accusing my cadres.'' When it was pointed out to him that nearly 130 murders had taken place in Kannur in the past two decades and that the CPI(M) had been involved in a majority of these cases, Surjeet said it was not the time to go into the root causes ofKannur violence. ``I do not want to say anything now which would vitiate the atmosphere for the peace talks.''Asked if he would talk to the Central leaders of the BJP about the situation in Kannur, he said there was ``no harm'' in talking to BJP leaders if that would help restore peace. About the BJP's decision to send parliamentary delegations to Kerala and Tripura to look into attacks on BJP cadres, Surjeet chose not to criticise the BJP, but only said that if there was unity between tribals and non-tribals in Tripura, the credit should go to the CPI(M).
