KANNUR: Cultural Affairs Minister A K Balan, who chaired the all-party peace meeting as the government’s representative, said that the UDF decision to boycott the meeting was “unfortunate”. The government strongly condemns the murder of Shuhaib and all culprits will be arrested soon, he said.
He said a special investigation team led by IG Mahipal Yadav is probing the murder and the government has full confidence in the team and won’t interfere at any stage.
“The government has not noticed any dissatisfaction from the part of the Congress in connection with the investigation or the probe team. If they have any disagreement with the investigation, we are ready to hand over the case to any agency that they wish,” he said.
“The Chief Minister had spoken to the Kannur SP on the day when Shuhaib was killed and asked him to take action against those behind the crime without any consideration. Nobody will interfere in the probe. We are ready to hand over the case to the CBI if the Congress insists,” he said.
“All parties working for the people have a responsibility to ensure that such unfortunate incidents are not repeated, or the public will never forgive them,” the minister said. When asked about the meeting’s relevance after the UDF boycott, he termed it as “unfortunate” and said it could have been avoided. “The dispute arose over a technical issue. That could have been easily solved,” said Balan.
“When the Chief Minister decided to convene the meeting, he called up the Opposition leader and got his word about the participation of the Congress. But, today, they have come to the meeting with the intention of boycotting this. That’s what we understand from their behaviour,” he said.
The government is not against the Congress proposal to conduct another meeting in the CM’s presence, he said.When asked about the UDF’s complaint that even 10 days after the murder, no government representative had visited Shuhaib’s house, he said: “We thought the visit should be made with the UDF’s cooperation. At this stage, a visit from our part will only deteriorate the situation.”