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05/20/2005: "‘Greater Nagalim can’t happen at all’"

‘Greater Nagalim can’t happen at all’ Assam Tribune From Our Correspondent
IMPHAL, May 19 – Lok Sabha MP from the Inner Manipur parliamentary constituency Dr Thokchom Meinya pronounced that the demand for creation of ‘Greater Nagaland is not just impossible, it cannot happen at all’.

Dr Meinya said that the stand of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government at the Centre is very clear on the issue of integration of all Naga-inhabited areas under one administrative unit. As such the demand of the NSCN (IM) which is carrying on a peace talk with the Centre is not just impossible, but it cannot happen at all.

Referring to a statement reportedly made by another State MP Mani Charenamei on the floor of the Parliament endorsing Naga integration, Dr Meinya said people need not panic on this count, as the UPA Government has an unequivocal stand on the issue. Meinya further urged the people to stay calm and face any challenges to the integrity of Manipur.

‘Nagas not born to be ruled by others’ Tehelka
NSCN(IM) leader Muivah has hardened his stand on Greater Nagaland By Nitin A. Gokhale Guwahati
Less than six months after he made reconciliatory noises, Thuingaleng Muivah, general secretary of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM), has warned that Nagaland may slide into violence once again since talks with the Centre have not met expectations. “The worst may come. Be prepared for any eventuality,” he told supporters last week in Dimapur, returning to Nagaland after a three-month stay in New Delhi.
Rio puts ball in Gogoi court OUR BUREAU
Guwahati/Kohima, May 19: A day after Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio claimed that his Assam counterpart had agreed to an out-of-court settlement of the inter-state border dispute, chief minister Tarun Gogoi said he had not given up the option of a “judicial settlement”.
Gogoi told newsmen that there was no question of shutting the door on a legal solution to the vexed problem when the matter was already in the Supreme Court. But he said he was not averse to a dialogue between the two neighbours to solve the problem. “If the matter is resolved through dialogue, then I am not against it,” he said. Rio had yesterday said in Kohima that Gogoi had agreed to an out-of-court settlement on the border dispute at a recent meeting in New Delhi. Nagaland has been insisting that the matter be resolved through dialogue between the states and was opposed to the setting up of a judicial commission to settle the issue.
Assam, however, maintained that both options should be kept open. “If we can resolve the dispute through talks, it is well and good. Otherwise, we should accept the court’s verdict,” Gogoi added. Rio today told The Telegraph over phone from Dimapur before leaving for New Delhi that the ball was now in Gogoi’s court and insisted that both Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh, which also had a border dispute with Assam, wanted to resolve it out of court. “The two states also want the problem to be resolved amicably and out of court but if Tarun Gogoi does not want it, then it is up to him,” Rio said. He said he would take up the matter with Union home minister Shivraj Patil over the next few days and possibly with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Rio has sought an appointment with Patil on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, Rio told reporters that Gogoi had committed during a home ministry meeting in Delhi recently that he was agreeable to an out-of-court settlement. The dispute has been mired in court cases over the past three decades. Nagaland wants to resolve the dispute on the basis of a historical perspective and ground realities. Assam insists it will abide by a Supreme Court verdict. The two states are locked in a legal battle over the issue after Assam filed a suit in the Supreme Court in 1988 accusing Nagaland of violating the border agreement. Assam followed it up with an interlocutory application in the mid-nineties, accusing Nagaland of encroaching into 54,150 hectares of forest area and 3,118 hectares of revenue area in Jorhat, Golaghat and Sivasagar, violating the interim agreement.
An Assam government official said going by past experience, it was unlikely that the problem could be resolved through dialogue. Several attempts to do so by holding chief ministerial-level meetings in the past have ended in a stalemate.

IM blasts AP Guv statement Newmai News Network
Dimapur, May 19: Reacting to Arunachal Pradesh Governor SK Singh’s recent statement on the Indo-Naga political conflict that “clouds and confusion of violence created in the name of greater Nagalim were bound to pass as a bad dream”, the GPRN/NSCN (IM) today said that by making such a statement Singh had only displayed the mindset and attitude of the Indians which had resulted in confrontation for more than five decades. Reiterating its position that Nagas want to live as one people, a press release issued by GPRN/NSCN (IM) MIP secretary-in-charge, A Akaho Assumi, said that at a time when successive Indian Prime Ministers had admitted the improbability of resolving the conflict through guns, political parleys had reached a very crucial stage with the Government of India recognising the uniqueness of the Naga history and situation. As such the Arunchal Pradesh Governor’s statement was unwarranted. Terming as baseless the statement, the GPRN/NSCN (IM) said the AP Governor was on the negative and destructive side as he did not have the political will to solve the problem.
The “unwarranted comments” amount to plotting a conspiracy to sabotage and derail the ongoing peace process, the release said adding Singh should know that “there is no greater or smaller Nagalim; the Nagas have what belong to them.”
The release said the Nagas had already rejected the British divide and rule policy, inherited by the Government of India because it was a suppression and imposition of Indian rule against the aspiration and historical rights of the Nagas. “If the Indian officials are dilly-dallying the issue at this rate, there is no point in expecting a solution honourable and acceptable to both the parties,” it added.

COS Eastern Command takes stock of Nagaland situation:-
Jakhama | May 20, 2005 3:23:47 PM IST Webindia

Jakhama, May 20 (ANI) : Chief of Staff of the Indian Army's, Eastern Command, Lt. General C.S. Vijan visited Nagaland this week to review the overall security situation the ground. It was Vijan's first visit to the area after assuming charge as the Army's Eastern Command chief of staff. Vijan was briefed at the 3 Corps headquarters on May 18 as well as by Major General S.S. Kumar, at the IGAR (North) HQs at Jakhama. Lt.General Vijan is currently in Manipur to review the security situation there with senior army commanders. (ANI)

NECCI to boost entrepreneurs in Nagaland Nita Medhi (Newsfile)
Guwahati, May 19, 2005 Hindustan Times
Mr HK Zhimomi, minister for Industries and Commerce of Nagaland, said that the government was committed to sustain development in the state through enhanced investment, an investor-friendly environment, provision of infrastructure and institutional support, attractive incentive package and optimum utilization of existing resources to gainfully exploit emerging opportunities in the national and international markets and generate substantial income end employment avenues for the people of Nagaland. He was speaking in a one-day session, 'Focus Nagaland', recently organized by the Northeast chamber of commerce and industry (NECCI) at Dimapur. The Secretary general of the NECCI DK Sarma, said that NECCI was keen to encourage entrepreneurs in the state who were willing to work in sectors with enormous potential like health care, agro food products, tourism, IT and InfoTech, professional education and herbal and medicinal plant products.
Prof Ujjwal Kumar Chowdhury, Media consultant to union ministry of textiles and also the director of ICONS-Media Delhi while appreciating the fact that Nagaland had huge potential in several sectors, felt that this potential of the state could only be harnessed by introducing its own brands in the market.
Prof Chowdhury said "India is a great product, but not necessarily a great brand. The same is the case with Nagaland and other states of the Northeast." Highlighting the tremendous potentiality of tourism and hospitality sectors in the global market he said a brand in both the sectors would definitely boost the trade and industry in the state. Prof Chowdhury also offered to take 100 youths from Nagaland with entrepreneurial potential in various sectors of their interest, to undergo entrepreneurial development and hands on training in various prominent industries to be sponsored by ministers and funding agencies of the centre. The Coir Board also presented various schemes and services in the session. Mr S Kehava Murthy the regional manager of the board said that the principal functions of the board are to encourage research and development, domestic market development, training, welfare and promotion of exports.
Congress trying to politicise exodus issue: AGP MP Ani
New Delhi, May 19 (ANI): The exodus of the Bangladeshis from Assam has flared into a big storm with political parties accusing one other over the matter. While the BJP's student wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) lambasted chief minister Tarun Gogoi for maintaining an "ostrich - like attitude" towards the large-scale presence of illegal Bangladeshis in Assam, Asom Gana Parishad has said the exodus of Bangladeshis was propaganda spread by the Congress. Sarbananda Sonowal, the AGP MP from Dibrugarh has said that all talks of exodus as a result of the threat issued to the Bangladeshis by ULFA and other insurgent outfits were a mere propaganda by the Congress which was trying to politicise the issue.
"It is a propaganda by the Congress. The Congress is trying to politicise the issue. In Dibrugarh there has been not a single incident of police report. All the people who are leaving are doing so on their own will," said Sonowal. Meanwhile the AASU has also said that the state government is responsible for the entire episode. It has said that it was the duty of the administration to determine who is a foreigner and who is not. The administration should verify the nationality of the persons who fled from Dibrugarh. It however said that no organization should anyway take the law and order into its own hands. AASU's stand is that all those who came to the state before March 25,1971 can stay in Assam irrespective of their religion. (ANI)
State has developed despite insurgency: CM By A Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, May 19 – “When we took charge in 2001, there was darkness everywhere. The darkness and gloom is disappearing now,” said Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today while presenting a report card of his Government’s performance in the last four years. “We have checked economic stagnancy and a downward slide. The State is steadily marching towards progress,” he said.
Addressing a press conference at the Janata Bhawan here to mark the completion of his four years at the helm of the State, Gogoi said the Congress Government has done a better job at governing the state than the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) Government that preceded it. “We have made our Government rural-visioned, pro-poor and development oriented,” he said. The Chief Minister said that the successful holding of panchayat elections in the State was his government’s first success. The Government has also transferred 29 subjects to the panchayat bodies, he said while criticising the previous AGP Government for failing to hold the panchayat polls for years together.
Gogoi said that economic development could not wait till normalcy is restored in the State. “We have proved that the State can develop despite insurgency.” There has been a definite improvement in the law-and-order scenario and the fear psychosis, that had gripped the common people earlier, has gone. This has also led to a greater inflow of tourist traffic into the State. The investment climate has also become better, he said. Dwelling on the Government’s economic performance, the Chief Minister said that tax collections have gone up and, coupled with better fiscal management, there has been greater resource mobilisation. From Rs 1,138 crore earlier, collections have soared to Rs 2,350.24 crore now, he said, adding that there has been a 32 per cent increase last year alone. Expenditure on development activities has gone up three-four fold than what was witnessed during the AGP regime. The annual plan outlay has gone up from Rs 1,520 crore in 2001-02 to Rs 3,000 crore in 2005-06. In 2000-2001, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had suspended payments by the State treasury for 175 days, Gogoi said reminding everyone of the financial crisis that the State was going through during the AGP days. “The treasury has not been closed for a single day this year,” he said.

“We are planning for the future also,” the Chief Minister stated, while mentioning the recent externally aided projects worth more than Rs 3,000 crore launched in the State. Another project of Rs 2,000 crore from the World Bank for upgradation of the State highways and major rural roads is in the pipeline. “The AGP Government did not get a single pie,” he said, adding that even the World Bank financed ARIASP project was initiated before the AGP took over. Rejecting the AGP charge that his Government has been a failure, Gogoi said his Government released Rs 443 crore in four years as the States, share in rural development projects while the AGP Government managed to give only Rs 183.06 crore in five years. The Central share has accordingly gone up from Rs 1,282.43 crore during the AGP regime to Rs 3,542.68 crore in his time. The AGP Government received Rs 137.32 crore from the Non Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) while he got Rs 501.41 crore. The AGP built 514 km roads in five years; his Government built 2,832 km in just four years, Gogoi stated.
Gogoi added that his Government has been successful in having floods and erosion in Assam declared as a national problem by the Union Government.
Rio Govt to recommend NSCN-IM truce extension
KOHIMA, May 19 (UNI): Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has said the State Government will recommend the extension of ceasefire between the Centre and the NSCN (IM). The Chief Minister made this statement while addressing the newspersons at Raj Bhavan after the swearing-in ceremony of the newly-inducted Minister Kuzholuzo Nienu yesterday.
No force can stop talks with ULFA, says Mamoni From Our Staff Correspondent
TEZPUR, May 19 – Expressing confidence Dr Mamoni Raisom Goswami said that no force can stop the proposed talk with the ULFA in order to resolve the long pending problem of militancy. Addressing as a chief guest at a function organized by Journalist’s Forum of Tezpur at the historic Ban Theatre here today, Dr Goswami stressed that she will try her best to keep the issue of sovereignty in the agenda of the proposed peace talks and added that the coming days will be crucial as the Prime Minister Office (PMO), Government of India will take the final decision about the proposed peace talk with the ULFA.
It may be mentioned that the Union Home Secretary V K Duggal recently has expressed the ULFA’s core issue of sovereignty is the main hurdle for the talks.
Undergrounds continues tirade against corruption NET News Network
Imphal, May 19: Continuing its tirade against corruption and corrupt practices in the state Education department, the proscribed underground outfit Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup has pulled up three officers for effecting 49 fake teachers appointment. The threesome likely to be punished for their role by the outfit has also warned all the fake appointee teachers to surrender to the party or face punishment. The total amount taken by the three is Rs. 42 lakhs for the fake appointments and out of these the outfit had managed to recover Rs. 34 lakhs from them. The recovered amount will be kept and used by the outfit for revolutionary causes.
The outfit spokesman while detailing to the media said, named the three as DI/DDO Thangkholet Haokip of Saibung village in Churchandpur, DI Takhellambam Promeshkumar of Ningthoukhong and AI Takhellambam Shantikumar of Ningthoukhong in Bishenpur district. All were posted in Henglep sub division. The three were shot in the leg yesterday night. He further added that the three used to take amount ranging from Rs.30,000 to Rs.2 lakhs for effecting the fake appoinment. And the total collected amount of Rs.42 lakhs, AI Shantikumar took Rs. 24 lakhs, DI Thangkholet Haokip Rs.12 lakhs and DI Promeshkumar Rs. 6 lakhs. From the three it was came to khow that the fake appointed teachers drew a monthly salary of Rs. 7,500 the spokesman said. The three also deduct amount from Rs. 500-1000 per teachers from theirs salary. Higher officials of the education department and personnel of the state vigilance department were kept mum with bribes amounting to lakhs during the times of transfer and new posting, the outfit charged. All these information were extracted from the three who were grilled for last six months. It has names of officers connected with the racket and added that all the fake appointment teachers will not allowed to work.
Question of credibility
While the crackdown launched by the KYKL under its Operation New Kangleipak to cleanse the rot that has besieged the Education Department in Manipur must have sent shivers down the spine of all the corrupt officials and those who were appointed in the Department through the backdoors, the action of the outfit will no doubt leave the Government in an awkward position. KYKL has already made its intention clear and the pulling up of three officials of the Department for masterminding the fake appointments of 49 school teachers was not the first and it will not be the last either, if the statement of the outfit is anything to go by. However the question is, what is the position of the Government in such a situation ? Here is an outlawed organisation which is doing something which the law enforcing agencies of the Government should have done a long, long time back. More than the three accused persons who were shot on their legs, the real damage has fallen on the Government and tehreby hangs a question over its credibility. Chief Minister O Ibobi and his men may not acknowledge it openly, but it has become more than clear that a number of outlawed organisations waging a war against the establishment and the Indian nation, have come forward to do what ideally should be the responsibility of the Government. Today it is not the Government which is checking corruption in the Education Department but an armed group and surely the situation cannot be comfortable for the Government. It is not the Government which has cracked down on drug trade but armed groups again. It is not the Government which check prices of essential commodities during times of bandhs, blockades strikes or festivals, but student bodies like AMSU and MSF.
Clearly there is something intrinsically wrong with the whole system that passes off as governance in Manipur. The many “appeals to the concerned authority,” that we see in the daily newspapers, especially in the vernacular dailies, is damning proof of the loss of credibility of the Government agencies and highlights the little faith that the people have on the Government and its officials to deliver justice. With the elected Government and its system not delivering the goods, what we see today is the emergence of numerous power players in the State and the result is the presence of numerous power centres which have begun to run some sort of a parallel Government. It is therefore not surprising to see that the situation in Manipur is today nothing short of anarchic. It has also become routine to see murder cases being settled between two communities, without the law taking its own course of action. What does all these say ? Governing Manipur is not a cake walk, we certainly agree, but the action and the measures taken up by armed groups to rein in corrupt officials says something about the functioning or the morale of the political leaders of the land. The fact that an armed group has deemed it fit to take up action according to its judgements against corrupt officials in the Education Department should not be dismissed as merely a law and order situation but should be seen as the total failure of the Government to do its job and that is to sanitise its numerous Departments and check the acts of commission and omission of its employees.
Exodus: Gogoi blames it on RSS, Mahajan’s Assam tour under scanner
CM dares Governor on B’deshi statistics By a Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, May 19: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today went on the offensive on the issues of exodus of suspected Bangladeshis from Dibrugarh and infiltration into the State from Bangladesh. On the former issue, Gogoi squarely blamed it on the RSS, which, according to him, is the brain behind the ‘SMS threat.’ He also rubbished the report on infiltration into Assam, which had reportedly been prepared by Governor Lt Gen. (retd) Ajai Singh to submit it to the President of India, saying that it was not based on ground realities. Talking to newsmen in the city today, Gogoi said that the brain behind the ‘SMS threat’ was the RSS, and that the BJP was implementing it with an ‘ulterior motive’ to launch the ‘second Godhra’ in Assam. With this accusation by the Chief Minister, the issue of exodus of suspected Bangladeshis, which had so far been thought to be an apolitical incident by many, got its political dimension. Gogoi even went to the extent of saying that now on, BJP leader Pramod Mahajan’s Assam tour would be under the scanner of the State Government, for, what he called, the exodus of people belonging to the minority community started after the tripartite talks on the Assam Accord and Mahajan’s Assam tour. According to him, the AGP and the BJP were infamous for creating troubles on election eve with the ulterior motive to create communal tension, and the current exodus of minority people was the newest game plan of the two parties.
Giving a clear picture of the priority list of the Government he is heading, Gogoi said: "The problem of insurgency in the State is on the top, and that influx comes next to it." He said that the AGP and the BJP wanted to keep these two problems alive so as to derive political mileage out of them, but the Congress was always in favour of permanent solutions to these twin problems, and it was with this aim in view the tripartite talks on the Assam Accord had been held at New Delhi recently. On the deportation of foreigners from Assam, he said that all DCs and SPs in the State had been instructed to verify the nationality status of people with doubtful citizenship as soon as they got complaint about them. On the reported statement by Governor Singh that at least 6,000 Bangladeshis enter Assam everyday, Gogoi dared the constitutional head of the State to prove his statement with factual evidence.
Arms to ULFA from M’laya? From our Correspondent
SHILLONG, May 19: The recent arrest of Md Hafizuddin from Ladrymbai has unearthed a nexus, involving labourers, which ensures passage of arms militants. According to sources, Md Hafizuddin, a causal labourer of the General Reserve Engineering Force (GREF), had, with the help a chowkidar Hum Bahdur, stolen gelatin sticks and sold them to another labourer who is believed to have links with the ULFA. The explosives were later transported to Assam. The Superintendent of Police, Jaintia Hills, M K Dkhar has confirmed the report. The Additional Superintendent of Police, Jaintia Hills, A K Rajkhowa said that many of the licensed coal miners have access to gelatin sticks and other explosives. The miners are allowed to carry out blasting in a controlled manner.
The ASP further added that, "The Dhemaji Police is investigating the case but it is yet to be established if some of the sticks stolen and sold to the ULFA cadre were actually used in last year’s Dhemaji bomb blast." The arrest of Md Hafizzudin and his associates was made based on information got during the interrogation of Dhemaji bomb blast mastermind Rashid Bharali.
AJYCP, people urged to join move against B’deshis From a Correspondent
HAIBORGAON, May 19: The Asom Asttittya Raksha Sangrami Mancha, supporting the AASU move against the Bangladeshi infiltrators, appealed to the people of Assam, including the indigenous Muslim people not to shelter suspected Bangladeshis, not to engage them as employees or daily-wage labourers and also not to use or take on hire any rickshaws, thelas or any other vehicles driven by the Bangladeshis in the State. In a statement, president of the Mancha Deba Tamuli Phukan said that influx of Bangladeshis to Nagaon, Morigaon, Darrang, Bongaigaon, Goalpara and Karbi Anglong districts in particular and other places in general is still continuing unabated under the patronage of certain political leaders with an aim to keep intact and even to increase their vote bank.
The Mancha said that unabated flow of Bangladeshis has affected the economy of the State and has changed its demographic pattern. In such a situation, for the protection and security of the countrymen as well as the indigenous people, irrespective of religion, caste, creed or party affiliation should come forward and launch a campaign similar to that of the programme as already launched by the Chiring Chapori Yuva Mancha in Dibrugarh. The Mancha also appealed to the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad and other conscious citizens and organizations, including the members of the bar councils, intellectuals, social workers and others to support the on-going move against the Bangladeshi infiltrators.