Centre watching Manipur situation

By Vinay Kumar

NEW DELHI, DEC. 1. The Centre has ``watched with concern'' disorder in Manipur State Assembly on the opening day of the winter session today which left four MLAs, including two Ministers, seriously injured.

According to reports received by the Union Home Ministry here, all hell broke loose in the Assembly as a no-confidence motion against the W. Nipamacha Singh government was admitted. Microphones and chairs were freely used by the MLAs, conjuring up images of a fracas of a similar kind in the U.P. Assembly not too long ago.Over the past few months, the ruling United Front of Manipur Ministry, headed by Mr. W. Nipamacha Singh, has come under sharp attack from the Opposition leaders who have demanded intervention of the Union Home Ministry to expose the alleged nexus between some State Ministers and insurgents.

As many as 21 Opposition MLAs, belonging to the Congress, Samata Party, Nationalist Congress Party, BJP, and Janata Dal (Secular) and Manipur People's Party, wrote to the Home Minister, Mr. L. K. Advani, urging him to identify Ministers accused of having links with militants.

They alleged that Manipur Ministers have amassed assets beyond known sources of their income and demanded an inquiry by the CBI into the entire affair. The MLAs alleged that recently the Food and Civil Supplies Department had paid Rs. 1.2 crores to the insurgents.

Recent reports received at the North Block have emphasised the deterioration in law and order situation in Manipur and pointed out subversion of government machinery, especially civil administration. Reports have pointed out that the writ of the underground appears to be more effective than that of the administration.

The Home Ministry report said that over the past three months underground organisations have called for a ban on playing of Hindi films and video cassettes and they even collected video cassettes and burnt them in Imphal. The report said that there has been pressure on Doordarshan and All India Radio, Imphal to discontinue programmes.

The report said that militants of People's Liberation Army (PLA) and United National Liberation Front (UNLF) had free and unhindered access to the government offices and files.The Home Ministry is also stated to be contemplating suspension of all funds to the NGOs based in Manipur as various NGOs, floated by various ministers and politicians, were allegedly siphoning off large funds given to the State by the Central Ministries. The report said that political leadership of Manipur did not want any advice on any issue.

It said that only 18 of the 57 police stations in Manipur were functional and there have been several instances of militants walking away with weapons of the State Police which did not offer any resistance.

It said the Deputy Chief Minister had recently attended the funeral of Mangad, a cadre of the banned RPF/PLA killed by Assam Rifles. Calling for firms steps to tighten administration, police apparatus and to tone up intelligence machinery, the report has recommended deployment of two India Reserve battalions exclusively for counter-insurgency duties.

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