The government may consider an amnesty for the extremists as State Minister for Home Affairs Shamsul Haque Tuku today called upon the underground party operatives to surrender for their return to normal life. "If they sincerely want to come back to normal life and give specific proposal for surrender, then the government certainly can consider their matter," he said in his call for the outlaws to lay down their arms.

He made the offer while replying to queries of from journalists at a briefing in the DC's conference room here after a meeting with the top officials of law-enforcing agencies of the country's northern and southwestern regions, where outlaws under names of different extreme leftist groups are active. The home ministry is learnt to be working as to whether the outlawed party activists could be brought under general mercy of government if they surrnder like in 1999 when 2,700 members of the extremist groups surrendered with 2,100 firearms.

The minister, who held the law-and-order-review meeting in the wake of rising acts of violence in the southwestern districts, also simultaneously issued instructions for the police and the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) to maintain law and order in 10 districts in the north, south and west "at any cost. The newly appointed state minister for home affairs deflated the episodes of death of crime suspects in reported encounters commonly dubbed 'crossfire'. "There is nothing called crossfire. What are stated about crossfire are not at all incidents of crossfire," he told the journalists. Clarifying the mist over the matter, he said: "The incidents of this sort take place when the law- enforcers try for self-defence during operation against the terrorists."

The DIGs of Rajshahi, Dhaka and Khulna ranges, the Police Commissioners and police supers of 10 northern and southwestern districts and RAB officials were present at the meeting. Replying to another question about Monday's hartal called by the Oil-Gas Protection National Committee to protest ruthless police action on their procession, the State Minister for home said he is hopeful that the leaders would withdraw the programme considering Ramzan and the upcoming Eid festival.

He also suggested the protestors to resolve the problem through state-level discussion. Among others, Shamsur Rahman Sharif Dilu MP, Additional Director-General of RAB Col Mizanur Rahman, Khulna Range DIG Sheikh Himayet Hossain, KMP Commissioner Zelaluddin Bakri, RMP Commissioner Nowresh Ali, Additional DIG Obaidullah, Pabna Deputy Commissioner Dr FM Manjur Qadir and Police Super Nibas Chandra Majhi spoke at the meeting.

-The Independent