Kerala - Kozhikode   

No let up in political violence

Kozhikode: Clashes between political parties have been continuing unabated for the past four days and spreading to new areas. Besides, more organisations such as the National Development Front (NDF) are now allegedly involved in the clashes.

An office of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) at Pallikkara, Thikkodi, near Koyilandy, was attacked in the early hours of Wednesday while an office of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) under construction at Koyilandy was attacked with crude bombs.

The IUML district leadership has blamed the CPI(M) workers for exploding bombs at its party office while the CPI (M) has blamed the IUML activists for hurling bombs at the three-storied area committee office which is under construction.

The Payyoli police have recovered four bombs from the construction site. The police also recovered a bomb from the damaged IUML office.

The IUML observed a hartal at Pallikkara.

The violent clashes began at Koyilandy on Monday night. Alleged IUML workers attacked the CPI (M) area committee office and destroyed several motorbikes of CPI (M) workers on that day.

In retaliation, suspected CPI (M) activists set on fire a defunct office of the IUML near the Koyilandy railway gate on Tuesday morning. Both the political parties called a hartal on Tuesday, resulting in violent incidents in the town. CPI (M) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan visited Koyilandy on Tuesday.

In spite of the deployment of police forces in the area, the activists of both the political parties are engaging in attacks. The inaction of the police has emboldened the activists of the political parties to engage in clashes, it has been pointed out.

Clashes have also been reported between the NDF and the IUML at Pulikkulil, near Nadapuram. The police have seized explosive devices from the area.

The trouble started after IUML activists attempted to stop the construction of an office of Allama Iqbal Trust by the NDF. The IUML activists said that the NDF had no role in taking up the cause of Allama Iqbal, an Urdu and Arabic scholar of the erstwhile British era. Many of the IUML activists are members of the trust.

The police arrived at the scene and stopped the construction activities.

Meanwhile, the Maruthongara area, which reported clashes between the Congress and CPI (M) activists on Sunday and Monday, remained by and large peaceful on Wednesday.

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