The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Wednesday, June 20, 2001, Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

M A I N N E W S

Protests continue, despite curfew
Amnesty demands probe into firing
Tribune News Service and agencies

Manipur legislative assembly building is seen in flames in Imphal on Monday.
— PTI photo

Prime Minister's emissary K. Padmanabhaiah coming out after meeting Home minister L.K.Advani at his north block office in New Delhi on Tuesday. Padmanabhaiah negotiated the ceasefire agreement with NSCM(I)-M last week. — PTI photo

Imphal, June 19
Fresh violent protests against the extension of Nagaland truce today rocked interior areas of the Manipur valley district and Army and paramilitary personnel staged flag march in the state capital and its outskirts just as the Prime Minister in Mumbai ruled out any alteration in the borders.

“The ceasefire extension will not affect Manipur. It is unfortunate that so many lives have been lost in violence in the state and property damaged. It is all because of certain misgivings”, Mr Vajpayee, who was discharged this afternoon from Breach Candy Hospital after his right knee joint replacement surgery, told a press conference in Mumbai.

The Manipur Government today ordered a magisterial inquiry into yesterday’s police firing on protesters demonstrating against the extension of ceasefire beyond Nagaland.

Amnesty International has demanded an investigation into yesterday’s policefiring in which 13 persons was killed. It said “Amnesty International is concerned about reports that troops have been ordered to shoot at sight. The Manipur Government must ensure that protests are policed in accordance with UN standards.”

Angry demonstrators protested against the extension of the ceasefire to Manipur and burnt effigies of Central and NSCN (IM) leaders at Moirang in interior Bishenpur district where indefinite curfew had not been imposed so far, official sources said.

The police and security forces dispersed the violent crowd and no casualty was reported, the sources said adding setting afire of effigies was reported also from Thoubal district where indefinite curfew was relaxed for two hours from 3 p.m.

Army and paramilitary forces flag-marched throughout Imphal and Greater Imphal areas as tension ran high following refusal by relatives to take possession of the bodies, the sources said. They said post mortem on the bodies could not be conducted because of refusal by family and relatives to identify them.

Representatives of the All-Manipur Students Union and the All-Manipur United Clubs Organisation said they were trying to contact authorities to seek permission for mass cremation of the bodies.

They said family and relatives would not take possession of the bodies till a confirmation on this was given by the authorities. Meanwhile, in New Delhi The Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, today reviewed the Manipur situation with top officials.

Mr Advani is believed to have asked the officials to ensure security of the common people in the state and especially the security of politicians.

The meeting was attended among others by the Home Secretary Mr Kamal Pande and Additional Secretary (in charge of North-East) Dr P D Shenoy.

While Assembly Speaker Dhananjoy Singh was discharged from the hospital last evening, the two MLAs Mr Bihari and Mr K Thomba, who sustained 50 per cent burns, are still being treated in Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal, he said.

Earlier in the day, Government of India’s emissary for Naga Peace talks, Mr K. Padmanabhaiah, who returned from Bangkok after signing the truce agreement with the NSCN(IM) met the Home Minister.

According to sources, he explained to the Home Minister about the revised ground rules agreed to by the Naga group and also the promise made by them to adhere to it in letter and spirit.

Mr Padmanabhaiah also understood to have explained to Mr Advani, how the extension of the ceasefire to Naga-inhabited areas in states other than Nagaland would not affect their territorial integrity and the positive impact the revised ground rules will have in checking extortion, killings, kidnappings.

Meanwhile, former Manipur Chief Minister and Samata Party leader Radhabinod Koijam asserted that he had not supported the extension of the ceasefire with the NSCN(IM) and instead had been pleading for a ceasefire with all militant groups in the North-East.

Review decision, says Left; BJP refuses

A cow with "Save Manipur" painted on its side stands beside its calf in a deserted steet in Imphal, state capital of the eastern Indian state of Manipur, on Tuesday.

A cow with "Save Manipur" painted on its side stands beside its calf in a deserted street in Impha on Tuesday. Authorities in Manipur ordered troops to shoot curfew violators on sight on Tuesday as the state braced for fresh protests against the extension of a ceasefire with rebels. — Reuters photo

New Delhi, June 19
The Left parties today demanded an all-party meeting to discuss the violent turn of events in Manipur and an immediate review of the extension of the Centre-NSCN (IM) ceasefire.

Holding the BJP-led NDA government responsible for the situation, the CPI, the CPM, the Forward Bloc and the CPI(M-L) said the “internal power struggle’’ between the BJP and the Samata Party in the state also contributed to violence in Imphal yesterday, which claimed 13 lives and led to large-scale arson. They expressed apprehensions that the violence would spread to other states in the North-East.

The CPI in a statement said here that the decision to extend the ceasefire with NSCN(IM) without any territorial limits and specifications was “ill advised, undemocratic and taken in a clandestine manner.’’

The CPM Politburo said in a statement here that the Central Government was mainly responsible for the situation in Manipur as contrary to the claim of Home Minister L.K. Advani, the Chief Ministers of all northern states were neither consulted, nor the issue discussed with them.

Meanwhile, the BJP today rejected the demand for the review of the Centre’s decision to extend ceasefire beyond Nagaland. There is no need (to review). The government has immediately moved into action (to contain violence in Manipur)”, BJP General Secretary Sunil Shastri told reporters here.

Mr Shastri said the BJP also has no “misunderstanding” with the Samata Party on the issue. PTI

Cong in quandary
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 19
The extension of Nagaland ceasefire to contiguous areas of the state has put the Congress in a quandary with the party trying to strike a balance between the conflicting stands of its Chief Ministers in Nagaland and Assam.

While the Chief Minister of Nagaland, Mr S.C. Jamir has welcomed the Centre’s decision to extend the ceasefire to other areas, the party’s Chief Minister in Assam has strongly opposed it. Mr Gogoi has alleged that the ceasefire was extended by the Centre without consulting the Chief Ministers concerned. There is also a Congress government in Arunachal Pradesh which has Naga inhabited pockets.

Unlike the NDA ally, Samata Party, which was quick to criticise the ceasefire extension to other North-Eastern states, the Congress took its own time in deciding the party’s stand on the issue. To take care of sensibilities of its constituents in Nagaland on the one hand and in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh on the other, the Congress opposed the extension of ceasefire.

That the Nagaland Chief Minister is not in agreement with the Congress high command’s thinking on the issue was reflected in his statement that the ceasefire should be extended to Naga-inhabited contiguous areas if the residents of those areas so desired.

Central leaders of the Congress, however, clarified here that the party was against extension of ceasefire. The party also urged the Centre to look into the issue once again. Unwilling to restrain Mr Jamir, the leaders said some leniency had to be given to him due to local conditions.

Charging the NDA with not consulting the state governments on the issue, the party reiterated its commitment to maintenance of territorial integrity of Manipur and other North-Eastern states.

The party said it was another fall out of NDA’s lack of experience, more particularly when it came to dealing with sensitive matters like the North-East.

Terming the Congress stance as “very nuanced,” a Congress leader said while the party would like the ceasefire in Nagaland to continue, its extension to other areas should be reconsidered by the Centre.