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North East : Manipur comes under President’s Rule |
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Finally, as was largely expected, Manipur has been brought under Central Rule. A proclamation to this effect was signed by President K.R. Narayanan, in New Delhi on June 2, following receipt of the Governor’s report on the situation in Manipur and its approval by the Vajpayee Cabinet. However, the State Assembly will remain under suspended animation.
Briefing mediapersons after the Cabinet meeting, Defence Minsiter Jaswant Singh said the Cabinet had approved the proposal and recommended to the President that the state be brought under the central rule.
Replying to a question on whether Opposition parties had been consulted before taking the decision, he said all members of various parties, including the Congress, were consulted. Samata Party whose Government was dislodged by the BJP by arranging defections in the ruling party, has hailed the imposition of President’s Rule in the state. BJP, however, preferred to maintain silence on the issue.
As already reported in our previous issues, the state was plunged into political crisis when the Samata party-led Koijam Ministry was voted out of power following en mass defections manoeuvred by the BJP who was a partner in the Koijam ministry. All political parties - newly floated Progressive Democratic Alliance, People’s Front, main opposition Congress, (Manipur Unite), CPI, CP(M), Janata Dal (S) have failed to form an alternative government subsequent to the fall of the Samata Party led PF government in the state on the floor of the state assembly on May 21.
ISI PLAN TO DESTABILIZE BENGAL, NORTH EAST
Indian intelligence agencies have stumbled upon an ISI blueprint to convert North Bengal into a trouble spot so hot that the Indian Army would have to maintain throughout the year heavy deployment in the region. This, it is believed, is part of a broader plan to create unrest in the insurgency prone North East.
One of the conduits in this plan, it has come to light, is Gorkha Liberation Organisation (GLO) Chief Chhatre Subba, now in police custody. Investigations reveal that the former first secretary in Pakistan’s Kathmandu mission, Mohammad Arshad Cheema, had met Chhatre Subba and discussed the destabilisation plan in detail. This meeting, according to reports, took place during Subba’s stay at Elam in East Nepal. He was then under the Leftist MCC’s protection.
The sleuths came to know of the ISI’s designs while probing Cheema, who played a key role in December 1999 IC-814 hijacking. Cheema was arrested from his Upper Baneshwar home on April 13 and is now in Islamabad. The Kathmandu police, who carried out the operation, had also recovered 16 kgs of RDX from his residence.
This revelation bolsters the Bengal Government’s claim that secessionists in North Bengal had the backing of the ISI. It also raises questions about claims of some GNLF leaders that Subba was a pawn in the hands of the Left Front Government to make the going difficult for Subhash Ghising.
Cheema, who was relieved from his post on April 9, 11 days before his arrest, played an important role in recruiting ex-servicemen with the lure for plum UN postings. Once the former Armymen were trapped, they were sent to Saudi Arabia where they were made to divulge secret information about the corps they served in to the ISI. The recent arrests of two such former Armymen too confirm this finding.
Cheema also masterminded the counterfeit currency racket operating in North Bengal. This cartel pushed Rs. 500 notes in large numbers into India through the Siliguri corridor. For every such transaction, the agents received 40 per cent of the currency denomination. Cheema is believed to have even asked Chattre Subba to blow up a number of bridges, which he refused to do. Investigations revealed that the GLO leader was selected to create disturbances along the Siliguri corridor. The ripple effect of this instability was to spread across to the entire Northeast. The game plan was to convert the entire area from Arunachal to North Bengal into a combat zone.
This would open up yet another front for the already-stretched Armed forces, fighting insurgents in Jammu and Kashmir. This, agencies say, was the main objective of the Pakistanis. Cheema’s interaction with ex-army men and the way he trapped them his rattled the Army intelligence. The findings were reiterated following the recent arrests of a Nepali ex-army man from Lucknow and Hari Gurung from Siliguri.
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