Dimapur, July 27 (MExN): The United Naga Council of Manipur today set an ultimatum of 5 days for the Government of India to act on the Mao Gate killings of May 6. On May 6, Manipur police personnel killed 2 students and left about a hundred injured at the Nagaland-Manipur border outpost, Mao Gate. The UNC warned in a letter addressed to the Prime Minister of India that agitations will commence if action is not taken as demanded.
The demands listed in the ultimatum sought a judicial enquiry into the Mao Gate incident; immediate withdrawing of the 144 CrPC; demilitarization of the Naga areas by removing Indian Reserve Battalions and Manipur Police commandos and removal of the “wanted” tag and reward for the arrest of a number of Naga leaders.
The UNC stated to the PM: “…the external force of the Manipur state government is continuing its intrusion and aggression with the continued militarization of the Naga areas in Manipur with the state’s armed forces, continued to hunt for the Naga leaders as criminals and instituted the ADCs for the tribals and the hills at Imphal Valley, making a mockery of democracy and insulting the sentiments of the Nagas.”
The UNC said that the Naga people in Manipur have been patiently waiting for the response of the Government of India to intervene as appealed for, on several occasions. The economic blockade in Manipur was enforced by the All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur in protest against the imposition of the Manipur (Hill Areas) District Councils (3rd Amendment) Act 2008 on the tribals, the UNC said. Later, the matter was compounded when Naga Students’ Federation were denied entry into the state and then the killing of 2 students at Mao on May 6 by the Manipur state armed forces. The agitation was temporarily suspended on June 18, 2010 in the joint meeting of frontal Naga organizations in deference to the request of the Prime Minister, Home Minister of India and the Leader of the Opposition, Government of India.
“Hon’ble Sir, even in the face of extreme provocation and total disregard for our existence as a people by the communal state government of Manipur, the Nagas in Manipur had been hopeful that the GoI will intervene and address the issues that had been repeatedly brought before the GoI,” the UNC stated.
But the earnest request for the intervention of the centre on the urgent and grave situation in the present state of Manipur has been ignored and left unaddressed till date, the council lamented. Instead, the UNC said, Manipur state government responded by declaring the presidents of the UNC and ANSAM as “wanted” and fixed rewards on them, ‘equating the Nagas demand for their democratic rights with a criminal act.’
According to the letter, the Manipur (Hill Areas) District Councils (3rd Amendment) Act 2008, a ‘clandestinely doctored Act’, is devoid of any autonomy and power and which subjected the council to the pleasure, whim and control of the state government. It was imposed on the tribal people against their expressed wishes, the UNC said. “A farcical Autonomous District Council (ADC) election was then enacted which was boycotted by the Nagas and when the 2008 Act and the ADC elections under it were rejected by the Naga people, instead of conceding to the demands of the people who are the stakeholders, as is the fundamental rule in democracy, the communal Manipur state government has made arrangements to make the ADCs functional from the Imphal valley.” Mentioned in the letter was also the decision to sever all political ties with the Government of Manipur and to seek the intervention of the Centre for an alternative arrangement for the Nagas of Manipur State.
