HYDERABAD, June 27: The Peoples War Group (PWG) is unable to come to grips with the latest stand taken by some prominent members of the civil rights movement in Andhra Pradesh.

What has surprised the PWG the most is the attack by Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC) general secretary K Balagopal on the violent methods pursued by the Naxalites for the past few years.

Though both the APCLC and the PWG are independent organisations, at one time they shared the same ideological background and held identical views on all important socio-political aspects. The APCLC always treated the violence committed by the Naxal organisation as a counter to State repression.

However, the differences between them, particularly between Balagopal and the PWG, grew over the past four years and reached a flashpoint with the mathematics teacher-turned-human rights activist openly denouncing violence unleashed by the Naxalite group recently.

PWG central committee member Nalla Adi Reddy, alias Shyam, who spoke to a group of newspersons in Adilabad forests on Tuesday, described the arguments made by Balagopal as ``not-so-new'' and felt that they would serve the interests of imperialists and their allies.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.