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06/08/2005: "NSCN-IM protests Ukhrul action"

NSCN-IM protests Ukhrul action OUR CORRESPONDENT
Kohima, June 7: The National Socialist Council of Nagalim (I-M) has written a strongly-worded letter to the Union home ministry, stating categorically that the Assam Rifles continues to operate in the Ukhrul area of Manipur.
Last week, the villagers in some areas of Ukhrul district fled following a standoff between the security forces and the NSCN (I-M).
The outfit, seeking immediate talks with the Centre had sent a letter to the Union ministry asking for immediate intervention. According to a senior NSCN (I-M) member, the home ministry is believed to have asked the Assam Rifles to stop its operations in Ukhrul but the paramilitary force has continued its operation in the region.
While the situation in several areas of Nagaland continues to be tense due to inter-factional fights, the attention is pivoted on Ukhrul, general secretary, Thuingaleng Muivah’s native district. The Tangkhul tribe-dominated Ukhrul has been the outfit’s stronghold. As the outfit’s ceasefire with the Centre is limited to Nagaland, tension between Assam Rifles and the outfit continues to escalate in Manipur’s Naga-inhabited areas. According to the Assam Rifles, the situation has improved after they spoke to the local population.
The NSCN (I-M) has said if the talks do not yield any substantial outcome then the ceasefire is pointless. “We cannot go on forever. If nothing is achieved through talks, then there is no point in extending the ceasefire,” said an NSCN (I-M) leader.
Isak Chishi Swu, NSCN (I-M) chairman, is in Amsterdam at the moment and if the talks are inconclusive, then a meeting is imminent between Muivah and Swu in Amsterdam. The outfit is waiting for an informal round of talks this week before it starts formal negotiations with the group of ministers later this month. However, the informal meeting between NSCN (I-M) leaders and top home ministry officials has not been finalised yet. The ceasefire agreement lapses on July 31 and both sides will try hard to extend the truce for one more year.
In Nagaland, clashes continue between the NSCN (Khaplang) and the NSCN (I-M) in Mon district, where at least three activists have been killed over the past week.
There are reports of clashes in Tuensang district between the NSCN (I-M) and a combined force of the NSCN (K) and te Federal Government of Nagaland, the militant arm of the Adinno Phizo-led Naga National Council.
Killing caps abduction in Nagaland OUR CORRESPONDENT
Kohima, June 7: Two men were killed by unidentified gunmen this morning after they were abducted near Tobu town in Nagaland’s Mon district.
Seven more passengers, travelling along with them in a Tata Sumo, were also abducted. Their whereabouts are unknown.
This morning, 11 passengers were travelling from Tobu to Mon town when 10 gunmen ambushed the vehicle. The driver and a girl were set free and nine persons, six of them Tobu villagers, were whisked away in the car. Eight of the abducted passengers were labourers of the PWD/housing department on their way to Mon to collect their monthly salaries, sources said.
The incident has sparked fears of a clash between the Konyak and Chang tribes in Tobu.
Nearly 10 people have lost their lives in inter-tribal clashes in Tobu in the past one year, sources said. One person was also injured in a landmine blast in the area late last year.
Police and the district administration have been alerted in Mon and Tuensang districts.
“We found two bodies in the Yietyong river in Tuensang district but there is no trace of the other people,” said L.T. Konyak, deputy commissioner, Mon.
Additional chief secretary T.N. Mannen said the administration in both districts has been told to co-ordinate operations and resolve the case.
Konyak said the kidnappers are suspected to belong to a self-styled “self-defence force” of the Chang tribe.
Both tribes have been fighting relentlessly since the late Eighties for control of the Tobu area. While the Changs staked claim to the rivers saying their forefathers owned them, the Konyaks said they have been the owners for generations.
The disputed area is huge and fertile but farmers hardly get to till the land for fear of violence. Tobu has a unique history with its own dialect and intermarriages between Konyaks and Changs are quite common.
53rd Phom Day Celebrated
KOHIMA, June 7: The Phom tribal community of Kohima celebrated the 53rd Phom Day at the Baptist Church here yesterday, marking the anniversary of the last day of head-hunting...

On this day, the Phoms had pledged to “remain peaceful and loyal to the government”. The oath was taken in Longleng village in 1952.

“Phom people were living in darkness 53 years ago, when head-hunting was common and there was fear and insecurity in every family,” said tribal leader B.S. Nganlang Phom.

Today Phom is the safest area in Nagaland, he said.

Employees not paid salary for nine months
KOHIMA, June 7: The Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) government is grappling with an angry 10,000-strong workforce, which has not paid been several months’ salaries. The All Nagaland PWD/ Roads and Bridges/ Housing Workcharged Employees Association has moved Gauhati High Court to claim the dues from August 2004 to April 2005. Many of these labourers have been work-charged employees (they are temporary employees recruited by departments against specific work) for more than 15 years. “I have six children to feed. I cannot even give them two square meals a day, let alone send them to school,” said 41-year-old Bhim Bahadur.

There are 9,691 employees who have not received seven months’ salary, said the association’s general secretary, Hekuto Aye. He said the association is preparing for a massive agitation unless the government takes action. The court has admitted the employees’ petition and asked the government to show cause within three weeks why a writ should not be issued. PWD minister Tokheho Yepthomi, however, said he was not aware of an order from the court to reply to the petition. He said some payments have already been made and the rest will be completed by August. The government argued that several employees have been demanding salary fraudulently while some have refused VRS.

“They (the government) are constructing large RCC houses and here we are without work and food,” said Shekhar Arel, a government employee. Aye demanded a CBI inquiry into the non-payment of salaries. NSCN K finance IMPHAL, Jun 8 : The NSCN (K) has informed that henceforth all its finances and revenue work will be operated by Maj Joseph Kilonser, specially in Manipur sector with immediate effect.

Dimapur Civil Hospital land encroachment will be solved soon, Dr Lotha inspects Civil Hospital, Referral Hospital, Medziphema Trauma Center building Oken Jeet Sandham

Dimapur, June 8 (NEPS): Nagaland Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr TM Lotha has assured the doctors and staffs of the Dimapur Civil Hospital that the long standing hospital land encroachment problem would be taken up at the earliest. The Minister along with a host of Medical Directorate officials have today visited the prevailing precarious condition of the Dimapur Civil Hospital after an one Bangladeshi Muslim encroacher moved to High Court and even Supreme Court, making things more complicated.

The Doctors of the Dimapur Civil Hospital disclosed that M Hogue, a Bangladeshi married to one Banuo Angami, had encroached the Hospital land. But instead of leaving the encroached land, they went to the Court claiming the encroached area belonged to them. This legal tangle over the hospital land encroachment has been going on for about 15 years and the doctors and staffs of the hospital have been mentally and physically harassed, as they were made to appear in Courts on several occasions explaining the position of the hospital land, says Dr Seikhato Sema, Medical Superintendent, Dimapur Civil Hospital. Angered by the manner in which one Bangladeshi had even filed in Supreme Court against the State Medial Department for his encroached land, Dr Lotha asserted such an outsider cannot take the “whole State to ransom” by taking up the land encroachment issue which belongs to hospital, to High Court and Supreme Court.

The Minister was also shocked to learn that the encroacher even filed petition in the Court charging that 5 prominent persons from Dimapur including then Naga Council President Horangse Sangtam and MS Dimapur Naga Hospital Dr Seikhato Sema tried to kidnap him on July 11, 2004. However, Dr Sema left Dimapur on July 3, 2004 for Germany and returned on July 19, 2004. “He (the Bangladeshi) will be finished legally with the help of our Advocate General and senior advocates,” says the Minister adding this Bangladeshi Muslim who married to one Banuo Angami has no evidence of having land in hospital compound as far as the “past records are concerned and his false claims and cooked up theory have already been proved.”

Dr Lotha disclosed that he had already discussed with the Advocate General of Nagaland, Bal Gopal about the prevailing Dimapur Civil Hospital land encroachment problem. With the consultation of the Advocate General and with some serious advocates, the problems would be solved soon,” the Minister assures. The Minister also says he would take up other urgent problems like power supply, water supply, doctors’ guesthouse and fencing of the hospital. He is visibly unhappy for the poor upkeep of the hospital and advises the doctors and staffs of the hospital to upkeep the hospital peripheries, as this would also prevent from encroachers. Informing about their recent signing of tripartite agreement with CMC, Vellore for running the affairs of the Referral Hospital, Dimapur that is now called Christina Instituted of Health Sciences and Research (CIHSR), Dr Lotha expresses optimism for the early commissioning of the much-awaited hospital. “This is along drawn out project and we should try to finish it at earliest as our Naga people cannot go outside for treatment always,” the Minister explains.

“This is the need of the Naga people and we should not go against the wishes of the Naga people, “ the Minister says. “Naga should have good medical services in the State and once it is completed, this will become another CMC in the whole of the Northeast.”

Earlier the Minister and his Medical Directorate officials visited Medziphema Trauma Center building and also inspected the Community Health Center, Medziphema. Local Congress MLA Rokonicha was also present.

The Minister and his officials also inspected the Referral Hospital (now CIHSR). He went around and inspected various blocks of the complex and also the embankment condition. Dr Sashi Aier, Additional Director, Medical Services, Dr N Kire, Joint Director, Medical Services, Dr Inakhe Sumi, Joint Director, Medical Services, Dr Kroper, EE, and Dr LN Hubert, CS are among others who accompanied the Minister during his inspections to Dimapur Civil Hospital, Referral Hospital and Medziphema Trauma Center building.

LK Advani resigns as BJP president From Kalyan Barooah
NEW DELHI, June 7 – Under attack for his controversial remark on founder of Pakistan Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Babri Masjid demolition, BJP president L K Advani resigned from his post, pushing the national party into a serious crisis. Beleaguered BJP leaders who were fighting a desperate battle, deflecting attacks from within its own family and outside, were aghast, this morning when the party chief resigned.

The party president supposedly declined to accept the late night diktat from the RSS to review his statement on Jinnah and choose instead to quit. Sri Advani was said to have confabulated with the BJP general secretaries and former Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee before calling RSS points-man in the BJP Sanjay Joshi to his Prithviraj Marg residence this morning, to hand over to him a letter announcing his resignation.

Interestingly the BJP national president began his letter by mentioning that, “I am writing this letter just before departing from Karachi.” “I have taken this decision after pondering the matter very carefully. And I believe that my visit to Pakistan last week has immensely reinforced the initiatives taken by the NDA Government to bring about peace and normalcy with Pakistan. I have not said or done anything in Pakistan, which I need to retract or review,” he concluded.

The letter left the party leaders bewildered, as shell-shocked BJP leaders went into a huddle. Sri Vajpayee who was holidaying in Manali rushed backed to Delhi. On his arrival senior leaders of the party trooped into his house and closeted themselves in a meeting to decide on the next course of action.

Earlier several BJP leaders including M Venkaiah Naidu, Sanjay Joshi, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Bal Apte, Anantha Kumar, Uma Bharati and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi among others made vain attempts to persuade Advani to reconsider.
CM in Delhi to discuss ULFA demand
NEW DELHI, June 7 – Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi arrived here this evening on a crucial visit to discuss the demand of the outlawed ULFA for release of few of its detained cadres. The Chief Minister is scheduled to meet the Prime Minister, the Union Home Minister, the National Security Adviser and top officials of the Intelligence Bureau among others.

Dr Mamoni Goswami is also going to meet Gogoi to push for early release of the detained militants. The Chief Minister has already stated that his government has no problem in releasing the militants and allowing them safe passage.

The meeting between the Prime Minister’s Office and Gogoi is likely to set the stage for the next course of action. The PMO has not outright rejected the demand. Although the Assam Government is keen to release the five militants, the Centre’s nod is essential. But the mood in the Ministry of Home Affairs is to weight all options carefully before acting.

The Central Government is still waiting for a response from the ULFA chairman to NSA MK Narayanan’s letter. Officials were of the view that the State Government should wait for ULFA response.

BJP closes ranks behind Advani
New Delhi, Jun 8 Grappling with the leadership crisis, BJP top brass today closed ranks behind LK Advani urging him to withdraw his resignation as party president on which he will give his decision tomorrow.
In the face of a strong RSS reaction to Advani’s praise for Mohmmed Ali Jinnah and other statements in Pakistan no BJP leader had rallied to his defence till its Parliamentary Board met here this evening and passed a resolution rejecting his resignation and urged him to continue to lead the party.
However, interestingly the resolution passed at the Parliamentary Board refrained from making any reference to the controversial remarks on Jinnah that had attracted the RSS ire.
As Advani ruled out reconsidering his decision to quit, party vice president M Venkaiah Naidu presided over a meeting of the Parliamentary Board and central office bearers which was attended by the top brass including former Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
“The meeting unequivocally rejected the resignation of LK Advani. The meeting appeals to Advani to continue to lead the party, which he has so ably led in the past,” the resolution said.
Immediately after the meeting, all the BJP leaders barring Vajpayee and Murli Manohar Joshi drove to Advani’s residence where Naidu handed over a letter conveying the Parliamentary Board’s decision rejecting his resignation.
“On behalf of the party I request you to consider the strong opinion and wishes of the party members that you should continue as the Party president. Both the nation and the party need your services. I am sure you will reconsider your decision and withdraw your resignation,” Naidu’s letter said.
Advani told Naidu and other leaders that he would convey his decision tomorrow in time for the Parliamentary Board meeting scheduled for 1100 hours.
In an apparent attempt to assuage his feeling of hurt at the attack by VHP firebrand leader Pravin Togadia, who called him a traitor and the lack of response from the party, the resolution strongly condemned the use of “highly objectionable language” by some VHP leaders about Advani. “These statements have lowered the level of public discourse. Such outbursts, indecent protests and abuse language adversely affects the strength of the nationalist movement in the country. These statements also go against the very ethos of Hinduism,” it said.
However, the VHP maintained its fire against Advani saying Advani should stick to his decision to resign and BJP should chose a “Hindu-minded” leader as its President. RSS chief KS Sudarshan broke his silence on the current developments saying Advani had done a good job as party president but preferred not to react to his resignation. It was an internal matter of the BJP, he said. PTI

Advani has disclosed one truth of History: Fernandes NET News Network
Guwahati, June 8: Coming in defence of L.K Advani’s recent comment in Pakistan JD (U) leader and former defence minister George Fernandes said that Advani was not wrong while commenting about Jinnah and has disclosed one truth of Indian history. Fernandes while talking to the newsmen here today said that although there was a consensus between Jinnah and Nehru to fight elections together just before British left India, but it was Nehru who broke the words leading to Jinnah’s demand for partition. Favouring a national debate on who was responsible for partition the NDA convenor referred to the book “The Guilty Man of India’s Partition” where it was mentioned that Pandit Nehru and Sarder Patel was in favour of partition.
Making his point further strong Fernandes said that after 1956 an English historian Leonard Mosley came to India to know about the reason of partition and questioned Nehru about the division of the country and Panditji said that he wanted to be the immediate leader. To a query whether he will appeal Advani for reconsideration of his decision he simply said the decision of Advani was unfortunate as the ‘BJP leader has a tremendous role in the recent development in Indo-Pak relations. When asked if Advani’s decision would affect the NDA, Fernandes said “I don’t think it will have any impact on NDA as it is a group of several parties”.
Manipur Opp demands resignation of Naga ministers
Imphal: Manipur Opposition, the Democratic Peoples Alliance, on Monday demanded dropping of the two Naga ministers, who are alleged signatories in a memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister in support of the demand for creation of 'Greater Nagaland'.Addressing a press conference here on Monday, former Deputy Chief Minister, L. Chandramani Singh, the convenor of the DPA said that if the allegations made by United Committee Manipur (UCM) in this regard is found to be true, the ministers should resign immediately from the Council of Ministers or they should be dropped.

Chandramani Singh said the consensus stand of the ruling Secular Progressive Front ministry headed by O. Ibobi Singh, the Opposition Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA) and the people of Manipur is that the territorial integrity of Manipur should be protected at any cost."Therefore, the submission of the representation is against the wishes of the people of Manipur and it is condemnable. Hence the ministers should be dropped from the ministry," he said.
The DPA is made up of BJP, Federal Party of Manipur (FPM) and Manipur Peoples Party (MPP).Chandramani Singh, who is also the president of the FPM said the DPA welcomed the ongoing peace process between the NSCN(I-M) and the Centre. The peace talk could only bring a peaceful solution to the Naga problem and also lead to peace in the North East.However, in the name of bringing peace, Manipur's territory should not be sacrificed. (NNN)

Source : http://theshillongtimes.com/