Revoke ceasefire in Manipur: Peace Committee

By Our Correspondent

IMPHAL, JUNE 23. The first sitting of the Peace Committee for Restoration of Normalcy in the valley district of Imphal East and West was held on Friday at the State guest house. (The Governor, Mr. Ved Prakash Marwah, had taken a special interest in constituting the committee because of the growing fear that a communal carnage might engulf the State). The members felt that the extension of the ceasefire with the NSCN(I-M) was responsible for the June 18 mayhem in which 14 students were killed and over 50 others wounded. The ceasefire should be revoked in Manipur to restore normality, the committee said.

In another development, the All-Manipur Working Journalists' Union deplored a press release by a nondescript organisation whose inflammatory tenor, it said, had caused communal tension. And, the Manipur police have contradicted a

report in a section of the media which said many Naga tribals had fled Imphal. In a press release, they said no such incident had occurred in any part of the State.

In view of the improvement in the law and order situation, curfew was relaxed from 5.00 a.m. to 11.00 a.m. today. There was no report of any untoward incident.

PTI reports:

Security measures have been tightened at Naga-settled areas following reports of a Naga exodus from Imphal to interior hill districts in Manipur, official sources said. Five buses reportedly transported the Nagas from Nagaram and nearby Sangakpham to Mao area in Senapati district on Wednesday and Thursday.

Meanwhile, Naga-Hoho, a leading body of the Nagas, has said that it would oppose any move to revoke the extension of ceasefire beyond Nagaland and appealed to the Centre to stick to its agreement (UNI reports from Kohima). In a statement, it said, following the opposition from neighbouring States, particularly Manipur, it had resolved to take up a goodwill mission and dialogue with different communities of the neighbouring States.

Barun Das Gupta reports from Imphal:

The controversy following the extension of the Nagaland ceasefire beyond the State has hardened the conflicting Manipuri and Naga opinions on the issue.

Two opposite views were expressed today by the senior BJP leader, Mr. H. Bhuban Singh, MLA, at Imphal, and Mr. K. S. Paul Leo, president, United Naga Council of Manipur, at Senapati, 70 km from here. Mr. Singh said if the demand for greater Nagaland was accepted, it would be the ``beginning of the fragmentation of India.''

Mr. Singh, however, did not think an en masse resignation by Manipur MLAs would serve any purpose if the Centre did not change its decision on the ceasefire. Instead, the installation of a popular Government at the end of President's rule ``will help us fight the Centre better.''

Mr. Leo, on the other hand, said there was no question of greater or smaller Nagaland. The extension of the ceasefire had been welcomed by all Nagas. ``The matter ends there,'' he said.

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