M A I N   N E W S

Bodies of 13 victims cremated
Manipur MLAs not to resign yet

Imphal, June 20
The bodies of 13 victims killed in Monday’s police firing were given a mass cremation today as Army choppers whirred overhead and the security forces stepped up patrols in the valley, where three districts are under indefinite curfew.

Mass cremation of bodies of 13 victims in Imphal on Wednesday. — PTI photo Relatives weep after cremating bodies in Imphal on Wednesday.  — Reuters photo

The bodies of the victims, accompanied by a few relatives, were taken in trucks for cremation to Kekrupat on the banks of Imphal river from the morgue of the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital, official sources said.

Mediapersons were barred from the funeral, where only family members of the victims and representatives of the All Manipur Students Union (AMSU) and the All Manipur United Clubs Organisation (AMUCO) were allowed.

Trucks bearing posters that read “They sacrificed lives for Manipur territory”, “We salute you martyrs”, and “We will shed blood to protect Manipur”. transported the bodies from the morgue to the cremation site with Army and paramilitary personnel guarding the 4-km route.

The bodies were handed over to the relatives after the authorities agreed to the demand by the AMSU and the AMUCO for a mass cremation.

Meanwhile, Manipur MLAs, given a 24-hour deadline to resign by the AMSU and other organisations to register protest against the Naga ceasefire extension to the state, said today they would not step down immediately, but hold a meeting first.

The legislators said they wished to go to New Delhi to urge central leaders “for the last time” to withdraw the extension of the ceasefire. If the central leadership refused, they would then resign en masse, they said.

They said BJP legislature wing leader R. K. Dorendra Singh had been asked to issue a statement on behalf of the MLAs that they would urge the central leaders for the last time and if the Centre did not pay attention, they would resign.

Most of the legislators in the 60-member House were in hiding, apprehending “attack from the people any time” following Monday’s widespread arson and disturbances, official sources said.

Meanwhile, Manipuris throughout the world have launched a website www. geocities.com, to mobilise an international signature campaign against the ceasefire extension beyond Nagaland.

At the insistence of the AMSU and the AMUCO, they also proposed to send a memorandum to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

“The people of the state support the Prime Minister’s initiative with the NSCN (I-M), but it cannot be at our expense. We stand united against the Greater Nagaland concept,’’ the memorandum said. PTI, UNI

Manipuris see plot to divide their homeland
S. Satvanaravanan and Gaurav Choudhury
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 20
Extension of the ceasefire between the Naga insurgents and the Union Government has stirred emotions of Manipuris, who feel that this may be a roundabout way of dividing their ethnic homeland.

As the police and paramilitary forces patrol hard to calm down the emotional outburst, agitated public has expressed its wrath on politicians — a manifestation of the fact that the political tribe has increasingly attracted hatred from masses for its pliability to stoop to embarrassing levels in the power game.

While the history of the Nagas demand for a separate homeland goes back to more than 50 years, that the Manipuris were vehemently opposed to a larger Nagaligam encompassing their homeland became clear days after the ceasefire between the Centre and NSCN (I-M) was announced for the first time in 1997.

Three days after the ceasefire was announced on August 1, more than 5 lakh ( constituting almost a third of the total state’s population) non-Naga population of Manipur brought out a massive rally opposing the truce thereby sending a strong message that any geographical division of the state, if at all, was fraught with dangerous social and political consequences.

Though terms of the reference of the ceasefire did not formally envisage that the ground rules of the ceasefire would extend to areas beyond the existing Nagaland, news about a verbal promise by the Centre inculcated a collective fear among Manipuris about the possibility of being uprooted from their hearths and homes.

Even before the terms of ceasefire were announced formally, the Nagaland Assembly adopted unanimously a resolution supporting the cause for a larger Nagaligam.

Under the expanded framework, the ceasefire spans over a geographical area of 1.2 lakh square km (against a meager 16,000 sq km of the state of Nagaland) and covers areas falling under the administrative jurisdiction of Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and of course Nagaland.

In Manipur itself the truce covers the districts of Ukhrul, Tamenglong, Senapati, Chandel (all Naga dominated-hill districts), Imphal East, Imphal West, Thoubal and Bishnupur (all in the valley dominated by ethnic Manipuris such as Meitis, Kukis etc).

It is interesting, however, the hill districts of Manipur which cover about two-thirds of the total geographical area, have less than one-third of the total population.

And perhaps the fact that the General Secretary of the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland ( I-M), Mr Th Muivah is a Tangkhul (a Naga tribe) hailing from Ukhrul district of Manipur has accentuated the sense of collective fear among Manipuris.

It is learnt that last year the Chief Minister of Mizoram, Mr Zormathanga had met Muivah in Bangkok, not necessarily at the behest of the BJP-led NDA government. However, the message reportedly was sent by the NSCN (I-M) top brass that the peace process would not go a fair distance if the issue of the extension of the truce was not settled hastily.

Factionalism within the NSCN has only helped in worsening matters for the Atal Behari Vajpayee government.

The NSCN, which was formed in 1980 under the chairmanship of Isak Chisi Swu, split in 1988, but not before bitter bloodbath (often referred by many as the bloody war of 88), with the Vice-Chairman, S.S. Khaplang forming a separate group NSCN (K).

What, however, is obvious is that the Centre was caught completely unawares about the undercurrents of disgruntled Manipuri sentiments and their collective consensus in directing the angst towards politicians.