|
Naga problem : NSCN (IM) dares Ibobi on arrests |
 |
Resentment is growing in the Naga militant outfit, NSCN (IM) against the Manipur government, following the non-bailable arrest warrants issued against two of their cadre by a Manipur court last week for not releasing two suspected killers of Muheni Martin and Hriini Hubert.
For the first time, a Manipur court issued warrants against the outfit’s cadre, albeit on a different ground, since it entered into a ceasefire in July 1997.
Kraibo Chawang, chief information spokesman of the NSCN(IM) has threatened to raise the issue in the next round of talks between the outfit and the Centre.
“We just cannot ignore the move by the Manipur government. We will raise the issue during the next round of talks with the Centre. It is an attempt by Imphal to sabotage the ongoing peace process,” Chawang said over phone from Dimapur.
Chawang, however, did not say when and where the next round of talks would be held. The two rebel leaders would not succumb to pressure and defy attempts to arrest them, he asserted.
Chief judicial magistrate (CJM) of Senapati, N. Kipgen, in her directive had asked Dimapur superintendent of police Bidhu Sekhar to produce Kraibow Chawang, and another NSCN(IM) second-rung leader looking after “home affairs”, in the court on or before May 14.
Solomon Veino, chairman of the fact-finding committee, formed by leaders of five Naga communities, claimed that they had enough evidence to establish the involvement of six suspects now in the custody of the NSCN (I-M), in the murder of the two Class III students of Don Bosco School. He said that altogether eight suspects were in Camp Hebron.
Veino said a gang was suspected to be behind the abduction and killing of the two children. The committee will hold talks with leaders of civil society organizations to chalk out the next course of action. The members are likely to meet Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh to know the progress of police investigation.
Bodies recovered
Meanwhile, the apprehension among residents of Thoubal district that Laishram Thouba (25) and Huidrom Arunkumar Singh (27) from Heirok, who were kidnapped on March 30, could have been murdered as in the case of Martin and Hubert, has come true with an Assam Rifles patrol spotting their bodies in a drain along the Imphal-Kohima highway in Senapati district. The bodies bore injury marks on the neck. The two had been whisked away in a Tata Sumo by an armed gang on March 30 from their village. Villagers later stormed the gate of Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh’s official residence, forcing police to lathicharge the mob.
|
