Condemn the illegal arrest of Telangana Journalist & Activist Pittala Srisailam

Release Pittala Srisailam immediately and scrap the false allegations fabricated against him by the Police of AndhraPradesh (India).


Telangana NRIs worldwide would like to condemn the undemocratic arrest of well known Telangana journalist and activist Mr. Pittala Srisailam under the false accusations of having links with Maoists. We strongly believe that this draconian act is perpetrated by anti-Telangana forces to silence a strong Telangana activist.

Our journalist friend Pittala Srisailam, the force behind Musi TV, was arrested by Andhra Pradesh police in Kandukur in Prakasam district some time in the afternoon of December 4, 2007 when he went to interview a leader of the CPI (Maoist). Srisailam was arrested on the pretext of acting as a courier of the Maoists. His whereabouts were not known for the next 30 hours, despite his family and friends, including journalist unions office bearers making representations to the police bosses and Home Minister. Finally on the night of December 5, the Home Minister acknowledged that Srisailam was in their custody. He also said Srisailam would be released if it is true that he doesnt have any proven links with the Maoists and that his only intention was to conduct an interview.

While being transferred from Ongole subjail to Nellore jail, Srisailam had a chance to speak to the press and said I was kidnapped by police and wrongly implicated as a courier to Maoists. I was also tortured by the police in custody to confess some statements which I am not aware of. I have no connections whatsoever with the Maoists and was there only for an interview as a part of my job as a journalist. These statements were prominently displayed by all TV news channels.

Srisailam is pretty well known to the NRIs and several media organizations in the state of AndhraPradesh (India), as an experienced journalist who has been working since 1989. He is presently the convener of Telangana Journalist Forum and is dedicated to running an online Telangana TV Channel called www.musitv.com which is bringing to the international audience, the democratic cause of the struggle for separate statehood for Telangana. He dedicated his energies and all available resources to running this on-line TV channel.

Convinced with his commitment and focus, most of the NRIs here as individuals or part of an organization have been coordinating events with him on various occasions. For the past few years Musi TV brought to the international audience, all about the struggles of Telangana people against internal colonization and the injustices perpetrated against them for the past 50 years in a joint state. He was solely responsible for broadcasting meetings, seminars and interviews related to the Telangana cause. It brought forth all that the other media organizations would not bring to lime light because of their biases, whims and fancies.

Pittala Srisailam was also arrested and harassed last week by Amberpet police for screening pro-Telangana films as street shows. When he was arrested in Amberpet last week, supposedly the police mentioned that they were under a lot of pressure from higher officials to curb his activities for Telangana cause. These events are very much a cause of concern for each one of us that he might be targeted by the state police for performing his job as a journalist this time around as well.

We, the members of Telangana NRI organizations from all quarters would like to extend our sincerest concerns for the way Srisailam is presently being treated by the police officials. We unitedly opine that Srisailam is being implicated falsely just to satisfy some meaningless political intentions and lobbying of Andhra higher officials.

We totally condemn Srisailams arrest on false charges and the assault on his democratic rights. We strongly urge for the release of Pittala Srisailam and scrap all the falsely fabricated cases against him.

Jai Telangana !