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North East : Manipur, Nagaland, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura

	August 16, 2004

North East

Manipur uprising : AFSPA lifted partially in Imphal

Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh who had been shuttling between Imphal and New Delhi in his attempts to defuse the people’s revolt against the imposition of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 announced on August 12 partial lifting of the controversial Act from the Imphal municipal area.

The decision was reportedly taken at a State Cabinet meeting defying the central leadership against the move.

Terming as “justifiable” the month-long public agitation in the State after the alleged rape and killing of Thangjam Manorama Devi reportedly by Assam Rifles personnel, the Chief Minister said: “My Government feels for the people’s sentiments.” “Though we cannot fulfil the desires of the people 100 per cent, we honour them. The State Cabinet has resolved to lift the Act from the Imphal municipal area first on a trial basis,” he said.

The Imphal municipal area covers the Assembly constituencies of Uripok, Thangmeiband, Sagolband, Khurai, Singjamei, Keishamthong and Yaiskul, which have 10 per cent of the State’s total population.

Referring to the public demand for the complete withdrawal of the Act, Singh said, “we don’t want the Act for a minute more in the State, but there are lots of compulsions, especially the presence of many unlawful organisations seeking even secession from India.”

According to Singh, the decision was taken without the Centre’s approval.

“Though the decision has been conveyed to the Centre, it remains to be seen how they would react,” he said. ``The Centre also feels that it is not just a law and order problem, but involves secessionist forces and hence they pose a question, a threat to national integrity. National integrity is above all and so they cannot compromise.”



CCPA discusses situation

The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) which met in New Delhi the same evening, discussed the situation in Manipur in the wake of partial lifting of the AFSPA by the State Government

The meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, was attended by the Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, the Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, the Defence Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, the Communications Minister, Dayanidhi Maran, and the National Security Adviser, J. N. Dixit. The Army Chief, Gen. N. C. Vij, and the DGMO briefed the meeting.



Agitation continues : Fresh protests

Even as the Chief Minister announced the partial lifting of the controversial Act, there was no let up in the ongoing agitation. A bus was destroyed and roads were blocked in different areas of Imphal as fresh protests against the Government’s decision to partially withdraw the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from the Imphal municipal area.

Official sources said hundreds of agitators demanding full withdrawal of the Act from the State pelted stones and destroyed a bus in the Singjamei area at about 7.30 a.m.

They also blocked the roads at some places, including Singjamei by setting afire tyres, placing heavy wood pieces and other materials.

Functioning of government offices continued to be affected in the ‘civil disobedience movement’ which had entered the seventh day by last weekend.

Meanwhile, the working committee of the 32 organisations spearheading the agitation said in a statement there was “now no question of going back” and they would continue the agitation till the Act was fully withdrawn from the State.

Several local organisations in separate statements condemned the Government’s decision to withdraw the Act partially and demanded its full removal from the entire State. “The decision to lift the Act from some areas would ultimately lead to the division of people in the State”, they claimed.



Partial lifting of Act may not help

According to North East watchers the temporary lifting of the AFSPA from the municipal areas of Imphal is the product of an “untidy compromise” between the Union and State Governments which will provide, at best, only a respite to both.

Curiously, the constituency of Khetrigaon from where 32-year-old Thangjam Manorama was arrested by the Assam Rifles on the night of July 10 and subsequently killed, thereby triggering the current agitation will continue to remain a “Disturbed Area” and the AFSPA will operate as before.

With the Army showing no signs of cooperating with the Upendra Commission probing the Manorama case hearings have now been adjourned till August 18 because the Assam Rifles soldiers summoned are refusing to appear before it.

The popular movement against the AFSPA is not confined to Imphal. Though it has been the epicentre, sustained protests have taken place in the valley districts of Churachandpur and Bishnupur districts as well as in the hill regions of Ukhrul and Senapati. Meitei, Naga, Kuki and Zeliangrong organisations have all united around the common demand that the Act be revoked.

The Congress-led Ibobi Singh Government had promised the State-wide lifting of the law by August 15 but is now offering relief in only seven urban and semi-urban constituencies that fall in Imphal East and West districts. There is fatigue on the street.

For some groups, the Manipur unit of the CPI for instance, the latest decision of the State Government will be seen as offering the possibility of an exit with some honour. However, most of the 32 organisations spearheading the campaign will not settle for a partial victory when their real goal is to rid Manipur of de facto Army rule. By Thursday last, many of these organisations had spoken. Most rejected the compromise “though the real test will be seen on the streets of the State on Friday,” says Pradeep Phanjoubam of the Imphal Free Press.



Joint plea against Act

Five former Chief Ministers - Radhabinod Koijam, Rishang Keishing, R.K. Ranbir Singh, R.K. Dorendro Singh and W. Nipamacha Singh - have made a joint appeal to the State and Central Governments to give a call for dialogue.

“Ultimately, the only answer is for the Central Government and the UGs (underground) to talk,” said Keishing. “But the people should also put maximum pressure on the UGs to agree to the idea of dialogue as a way of reaching a settlement. It is not practical or feasible for any group to think Manipur can come out of India.



Nagaland : Chief Minister’s talks with PM on Naga peace process

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has assured Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio that the NSCN (I-M) top leadership would soon be invited to visit the country.

Rio, who met Singh in New Delhi last week, was told that all measures would be undertaken to move the seven-year-old Naga peace process forward.

“We argued that the NSCN (I-M) leaders needed to come to India as there has been a change in government at the Centre. Their visit will hasten the peace process and the Prime Minister has agreed to invite them”, Rio told The Telegraph.

The NSCN(IM) leaders’ visit will help them get acquainted with Indian politics besides giving them an opportunity to go to Nagaland, he added.

The NSCN (I-M) duo Muivah and Isak Chisi Swu were supposed to visit Delhi and then Nagaland in February. The programme had to be cancelled because of the general elections, as very few leaders would have been available in the capital.

Now with the “feel-good” factor in place following an extended ceasefire agreement, it is expected that an offer to the Nagas to visit Delhi would be given at the next round of talks, which are likely soon.

Rio, who also met home minister Shivraj Patil, said, A congenial atmosphere in the state was necessary for the dialogue to reach a logical conclusion.

To begin with, the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act needs to be revoked from Nagaland and we have highlighted this time and again. The underground outfits are no longer banned and talks are on for a solution to the problem, said the chief minister.

Despite repeated pleas from the Rio government, Delhi decided to extend the act for another year last month. The Nagaland government has also expressed its displeasure over the non-implementation of the special status that the hill state enjoys under Article 371 (A) of the Constitution.



Assam : ULFA agrees to hold peace talks at home

A leading separatist group in Assam has for the first time agreed to hold talks with the Indian government in the state, setting aside an earlier insistence that a dialogue can take place only abroad.

“We are willing to even come down to Dispur (capital of Assam) as long as the agenda of talks revolved around our demand for sovereignty,” said Paresh Baruah, commander-in-chief of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).

The ULFA leader’s statement was published on August 9 in Assam’s newspapers.

“But the issue is whether the Indian government is willing to talk with us. As long as they (government) are ready to talk on that issue, so are we,” he added.

The ULFA has been fighting for an independent homeland in Assam since 1979. The fresh offer is a clear departure from its previous stand that negotiations can only be held in a third country under UN supervision and its demand for independence should be the core issue of the agenda. The latest statement makes no reference to the earlier preconditions.

The ULFA decision to renew its offer for talks follows the decision by another militant group in India’s northeast to act as a facilitator to bring the ULFA to the negotiating table.

“We want to act as a go-between to enable the ULFA to come forward for talks with the federal government,” said K. Mulatonu, publicity chief of the S.S. Khaplang faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-K).

“We are hopeful our efforts would receive positive response from the ULFA although everything depends on the sincerity of New Delhi,” Mulatonu said.

The NSCN(K), fighting for an independent tribal homeland in Nagaland, has been operating a ceasefire with New Delhi since 2001 although formal talks with the government were yet to begin.

“We intend to open channels of communication with the ULFA soon and our close association with the outfit would help us achieve our objective,” Mulatonu said.



Government responds positively

The Assam government on August 11 urged New Delhi to initiate peace talks with an influential separatist group to bring an end to more than 25 years of violent insurgency in the region.

“We want New Delhi to start peace talks with ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom) on the same parameters as the central government adopted while holding negotiations with other rebel groups from the northeast,” Assam Home Minister Rokibul Hussain said.

“In 1986 we saw the Mizo National Front (MNF) signing a peace accord with New Delhi after years of talks, and presently similar discussions are underway with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN).” The MNF had waged a 20-year bush war in Mizoram, which borders Bangladesh and Myanmar, before shaking hands with the Indian government. A former rebel leader, Zoramthanga, is now the chief minister of Mizoram.

The NSCN, fighting for an independent tribal homeland in Nagaland, is currently operating a ceasefire with New Delhi and has since held several rounds of peace talks.

The minister was reacting to the ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah’s statement in local newspapers in Assam about the outfit’s desire for talks with the government.



Meghalaya : Stormy start to Garo talks

The peace process between the outlawed Achik National Volunteers’ Council (ANVC) and the Meghalaya government hit a hurdle at the very first meeting of the joint monitoring group.

The ANVC stuck to its demand for the inclusion of vast tracts of cultivable land, coal mines and thickly-populated areas almost 60 per cent of the West Khasi Hills in the proposed “Greater Garoland”, while the government unsuccessfully tried to convince the militant leadership to accept its point of view.

Though Meghalaya police tried their best to keep the outcome of the meeting under wraps, the Union Home Ministry’s representative gave it away. ANVC general secretary Wanding Marak, publicity secretary A. Sangreng and other leaders of the militant group kept mum.

The silence of the usually voluble ANVC leaders indicated something was amiss. A source said they took exception to the government’s suggestion that Delhi might not accede to the demand for a greater Garoland.

Joint secretary in the Union home ministry and joint monitoring group chairperson Rajiv Agarwal was conspicuous by his absence at the meeting.

Among those present were Meghalaya director-general of police L. Sailo, additional director-general W. Marbaniang and representatives of the Assam Rifles, the CRPF and the army.

The source said the ANVC leadership construed Agarwal’s failure to attend the meeting as lack of seriousness.

Union home ministry representative A.K. Goel added to the tension by raising questions about the information provided by the state government about the proposed locations of ANVC camps during the period of ceasefire and the decision to allow safe passage to its leaders.

“We do not know exactly where the camps will be located. Neither do we have information about how many members of the ANVC will stay in these camps”, Goel said after the meeting.

The home ministry official said it had not been decided if ANVC chairman Dilash Marak and commander-in-chief Jerome Momin, who are in Bangladesh, would stay in the designated camps.

He pleaded ignorance about the BSF’s refusal to allow the Bangladesh-based militant leaders enter the Garo hills.

BSF inspector-general S.C. Srivastava, who is in charge of the units deployed in Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur and Nagaland, had said recently that the force would not allow safe passage to the top ANVC leaders holed up in Bangladesh.

Goel said the 4,000-km border with Bangladesh was porous enough for the ANVC leaders to cross over to their outfit’s designated camps in Meghalaya.

The director-general of police said the state government would make arrangements in consultation with the BSF should the need arise. He declined to elaborate what these arrangements could be.



Tripura : Cracks in Left alliance

The ongoing financial crisis in Tripura’s Autonomous District Council has taken its toll on the alliance between the ruling CPM and the recently formed National Socialist Party of Tripura (NSPT).

As the financial blockade of the council by the state government continues unabated, all development activities of the ADC have been paralysed, though salaries are being paid to the council employees.

A delegation of the ADC’s executive members, led by chief executive member Budhu Debbarma, met chief minister Manik Sarkar in deputation on July 27.

It urged Sarkar to ensure that the funds payable to the ADC in accordance with budget provisions be released immediately. However, the appeal has been in vain.

In a new twist to the crisis, the ADC’s elected member of the Opposition, Benoy Debbarma of the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura, has quit. His resignation is in protest against the CPM-led Left Front government for continuing to deprive the ADC.

Debbarma had despatched his letter of resignation to party president Bijay Kumar Hrangkhawal, requesting him to forward it to ADC chairman Santi Ranjan Reang.

Official sources in the ADC said in the current year’s budget, the state government has made provision for more than Rs 100 crore for the ADC. Yet, only Rs 10 crore have been sanctioned so far. The dilatory tactics of the state finance department in sanctioning funds are crippling the council, a source said.

Reacting to the financial crisis in the council, INPT secretary Rabindra Debbarma claimed that the CPM would never allow any other party to run the ADC properly and that is why it was creating deliberate obstacles to stymie the functioning of the council.

The CPM engineered the split in the INPT and encouraged a section of deserters to form the NSPT with the aim of capturing the ADC in the next elections by any means, Debbarma said.