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| Th. Muivah waves to supporters at Viswema village on Wednesday. Picture by Eastern Projections |
New Delhi/Imphal, May 5: After a day of tension over NSCN (I-M) general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah's visit to Manipur tomorrow, Naga organisations tonight asked him to defer the trip and plan it in a more congenial atmosphere.
Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh, whose government remained adamant on not allowing Muivah to enter the state, will leave for Delhi by a special aircraft being sent by the home ministry at 7am tomorrow.
He will take part in a meeting to be attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, home minister P. Chidambaram and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to review the Manipur situation. Ibobi Singh is expected to ask the Centre to reconsider its decision to allow Muivah to visit Manipur.
Chidambaram is understood to have asked Ibobi Singh this evening to facilitate Muivah's visit to his native village, Somdal, in Ukhrul district. "The Union home minister telephoned the Manipur CM in front of me and asked him to allow Muivah to visit his village," Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio said after meeting Chidambaram in New Delhi with a request for intervention. The home minister's office, however, declined to comment on Rio's claim.
Rio said Muivah would spend the night on the Nagaland-Manipur border, "reach his village tomorrow and spend a couple of days there". He said the Union home ministry had promised to ensure security to the NSCN (I-M) leader during his visit.
The Manipur cabinet, which met in Imphal this evening, requested the Centre to reconsider its decision of allowing Muivah to visit the state. Muivah was scheduled to leave Nagaland for Somdal on May 3 but had to postpone the visit, planned after 40 years, on the Centre's request after the Congress government in Manipur decided not to allow him entry into the state citing possible law and order problem.
Manipur remained tense throughout the day as reports poured in that Muivah would try to enter the state through Mao Gate along the Imphal-Dimapur highway (NH-39) tomorrow.
Government spokesperson N. Biren Singh, who is also the irrigation and flood control minister, told The Telegraph after a cabinet meeting called to review the situation this afternoon, "We are constantly monitoring the situation. It is under control and the government has not changed its stand that he (Muivah) should not enter Manipur."
The United Committee Manipur, a conglomerate of several organisations spearheading the campaign to safeguard the state's territory, announced a series of agitation this afternoon against what it termed New Delhi's attempt to "trigger communal riots" and "break Manipur" by sending Muivah to the state.
UCM president Yumnamcha Dilipkumar told reporters in Imphal that the organisation would launch indefinite effigy-burning and poster campaigns and block all vehicles going from Imphal city to the hill districts and vice-versa from 5am tomorrow.
He said the blockade would make more effective the ongoing economic blockade imposed by the All Naga Students Association, Manipur, along the Imphal-Dimapur and Imphal-Jiribam highways since April 11 midnight against the Autonomous District Council elections scheduled for later this month. It would also attempt to prevent unwanted trouble between communities in view of the tense situation created by Muivah's proposed visit, he added.
The UCM has called a public meeting at Thangmeiband Athletic Union ground in Imphal West at 11am tomorrow to chalk out a future course of action. "The Ibobi government should not change its stand of not allowing Muivah (to enter the state). If he comes, there will be an upheaval greater in intensity than the one witnessed in 2001 after the NSCN (I-M) ceasefire was extended beyond Nagaland," Dilipkumar warned.
After the media briefing, UCM volunteers set ablaze effigies of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, home minister P. Chidambaram and Muivah at Lamphel in Imphal West district.
The organisation had sent a memorandum to the Prime Minister last night, requesting him to prevent Muivah from entering Manipur.
The All Manipur United Clubs' Organisation, an apex body of citizen's groups, has called a statewide 48-hour general strike from 6pm tomorrow in protest against Muivah's visit. It will also organise mass sit-ins in different parts of the state tomorrow.
On the other hand, the Zeliangrong Students Union, Inpui Students Union and the Zeliangrong Youth Front imposed a highway bandh along Imphal-Jiribam highway with effect from yesterday afternoon in protest against the Manipur government's decision.
Bandh supporters damaged five vehicles at Noney and Tupul in Tamenglong district today. They also turned back buses coming from Jiribam and Tamenglong district headquarters. Posters having Muivah's photo and the words "welcome home" were put up at Noney and Tupul.
People in neighbouring Nagaland also turned back several vehicles from Manipur today from Khuzuma, the last locality on Imphal-Dimapur highway before one enters Manipur at Mao Gate in Senapati district.
Mao Gate is fortified heavily with armed police and India Reserve Battalion personnel. Over 500 Manipur police, IRB and Manipur Rifles are stationed at Mao town and the border has been sealed.
Two police officers, Imphal West senior superintendent of police L. Kailun and Bishnupur superintendent of police K. Jayenta Singh, are camping there to oversee security measures. "The situation is under control and there was no untoward incident today," Kailun said over phone.
About a thousand women held peaceful prayers in support of Muivah's visit at Mao Gate for an hour this morning.
Before the Naga Mothers' Association, the Naga Students' Federation and the Naga People's Movement for Human Rights requested Muivah to defer his proposed visit to Manipur tomorrow, sources at Viswema village in Nagaland, where Muivah is halting for the night, had said that he would proceed with security forces between 6am and 7am tomorrow if the Manipur government did not lift its ban on his visit by evening.
NSCN (I-M) sources said they were in contact with the security forces to break the barricade of Manipur police at Mao Gate and elsewhere in the state. They said armoured cars of the security forces were expected to reach Viswema village by 6am tomorrow. Muivah was provided with a chopper but he refused to use it. "He wanted to go by road," a senior NSCN functionary told our correspondent at Viswema, about 6km from Moa Gate.
Muivah's convoy had nearly 100 vehicles and 50 armed NSCN (I-M) cadres. Representatives from various Naga organisations — Naga Hoho, Naga Students' Federation, Naga People's Movement for Human Rights, Naga Council Dimapur and the Naga Mothers' Association — are accompanying him.
At a public meeting at Viswema this evening, Muivah opted for a phasewise solution to the Naga problem. His statement assumes significance as the Centre had also suggested this. He, however, said the NSCN (I-M) would never compromise on its Nagalim demand and would never surrender to the Indian government.
Inputs from H. Chishi at Viswema in Nagaland and Nishit Dholabhai in Kohima
(The Telegraph)
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