MUMBAI // The killing of a Maoist leader and a key proponent of dialogue with the government has greatly diminished hopes of a truce with the rebels, a government negotiator said.
"His death is a setback to the entire peace process," Swami Agnivesh, a saffron-robed Hindu spiritual leader and social activist, said in an interview. "He was all for peace and dialogue. If he hadn't been killed, the Maoists would have announced a 72-hour ceasefire with the government."
The rebel leader in question is Cherukuri Raj Kumar, well known by his nom de guerre Azad, who was killed on July 1 in the jungles of central India in a three-hour gun battle with the police of Andhra Pradesh state.
A rebel spokesman and number three in the Maoist hierarchy, Azad was at the time headed to a guerrilla hideout in the Bastar region to deliver to senior Maoist commanders a letter by Swami Agnivesh urging the rebels to renounce violence and come to the negotiating table.
Swami Agnivesh said he was expecting Azad to reply to him this month with a possible date for a three-day-long ceasefire by the rebels - which was expected to have been met by an offer for talks by the government - but the "news of his killing came first".
On May 11, after Swami Agnivesh returned to New Delhi after a peace march to rebel stronghold Dantewada district in central India with 60 other activists, India's home minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, appointed him as an interlocutor between the rebels and him.
Via "secret channels", Swami Agnivesh immediately dispatched a letter to the rebels by Mr Chidambaram requesting a mutual 72-hour ceasefire.
On June 7, he received a reply from Azad dated May 31, welcoming the new channel of communication, but without any date on the ceasefire. The rebels urged for a longer ceasefire, spanning six months or a year.
In order to create an atmosphere conducive to talks, they also urged the government to release from jail four top Maoist leaders - Kobad Ghandy, Amitabha Bagchi, Sushil Roy and Narayan Sanyal - who, Azad said, would be a part of the negotiations.
"Our party is very serious about bringing about peace, especially at the present juncture when hundreds of thousands of Adivasis [tribal people]?are fleeing their homes, [they] are facing chronic conditions of hunger and famine," Azad wrote in his letter. "One should not be swayed by victories and defeats at this critical juncture ? but try to create conditions whereby their survival is ensured."
The package received from the rebels also contained 60 pages detailing incidents of tribals killed, women raped by security personnel and other incidents of human-rights abuses in Maoist-controlled areas in recent months.
Mr Chidambaram asked Swami Agnivesh to approach the rebels again and push for a ceasefire date.
Swami Agnivesh dispatched another letter to Azad on June 26, and he was expecting a response in the first week of July. The Maoists have spurned several offers of talks in the past, but there was growing optimism that Azad would persuade the rebels to agree to a truce, Swami Agnivesh said.
Instead, the Andhra Pradesh police gunned him down in a patch of forest on the border with Maharashtra.
Kishenji, a senior Maoist leader, reacted angrily to Azad's killing, calling Mr Chidambaram "a big betrayer".
He told the Indian media that the talks were a well-laid ploy to eliminate Azad, who carried a 1.2 million rupee (Dh94,310) award on his head. Kishenji alleged that Azad had been picked up from the railway station in Nagpur, a town in central India, while he was on his way to meet his fellow rebel commanders, and was taken to the jungles on the border and deliberately gunned down. There was no sustained gun battle, he claimed.
"They had been trailing him since March, when they almost got him," Gudsa Usendi, another Maoist spokesperson, said.
The police denied the charge. Mr Chidambaram has not commented on the incident.
Hem Chandra Pandey, another associate caught with Azad, was killed in the same shootout. The police say Pandey was a Maoist, but his family say he was a freelance journalist who had set out to interview Azad.
Swami Agnivesh said he was "deeply disappointed" by the setback. Dialogue had become imperative, he said, to stop the Maoist-related violence, which has grown bloodier in recent months.
The government launched operation Greenhunt, its 100,000-troop-strong counteroffensive against the rebels, last year to uproot them from their strongholds in central and eastern India, widely known as the "red corridor". The violence has grown alarmingly since then.
On April 6, in a patch of jungle in Chhattisgarh state, rebels raided a police convoy at dawn, killing 76 men and hacking off the limbs of survivors. It was the deadliest Maoist attack in recent memory.
Last month, a private television channel aired images of security men in West Bengal's West Midnapore district carrying bodies of eight dead Maoists after a lengthy gun battle, with their limbs tied to poles. India's National Human Rights Commission immediately lodged a protest against this with India's home ministry.
Swami Agnivesh met Mr Chidambaram on Friday, urging him to initiate a probe into Azad's killing. The move, he says, might reinstil trust among the Maoists, also known as Naxalites, and "facilitate the peace process to be resumed". Mr Chidambaram rejected the proposal.
Meanwhile, Swami Agnivesh says he is trying to set up another line of communication with the Maoists through his "secret channels".
"I am appealing to them to not subvert the peace process," he said. "I am very hopeful they will respond positively. It's very important that both sides sit down and talk."
achopra@thenational.ae
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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If you go
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Nairobi, with fares starting from Dh1,695. The resort can be reached from Nairobi via a 35-minute flight from Wilson Airport or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, or by road, which takes at least three hours.
The rooms
Rooms at Fairmont Mount Kenya range from Dh1,870 per night for a deluxe room to Dh11,000 per night for the William Holden Cottage.
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Dubai World Cup factbox
Most wins by a trainer: Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor(9)
Most wins by a jockey: Jerry Bailey(4)
Most wins by an owner: Godolphin(9)
Most wins by a horse: Godolphin’s Thunder Snow(2)
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
THE SPECS – Honda CR-V Touring AWD
Engine: 2.4-litre 4-cylinder
Power: 184hp at 6,400rpm
Torque: 244Nm at 3,900rpm
Transmission: Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT)
0-100kmh in 9.4 seconds
Top speed: 202kmh
Fuel consumption: 6.8L/100km
Price: From Dh122,900
Origin
Dan Brown
Doubleday
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 620bhp
Torque: 760Nm
Price: Dh898,000
On sale: now
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