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09/10/2006: "Govt urges USSC to call off agitation Nagaland Post"
Govt urges USSC to call off agitation Nagaland Post
Dimapur, Sept 9 (NPN): The State government has urged the United Sangtam Students' Conference (USSC) to withdraw its agitation assuring that the demands of the Conference would be looked into. In a letter addressed to the USSC chairman, State Additional Chief Secretary Lalthara requested the USSC to withdraw the agitation in order to create a congenial atmosphere for the government to address the grievances of Conference.
The government assured that it would address, within the shortest possible time, all demands of the USSC including the issue of transfer of Seijomong from Commandant, 3rd NAP, and his posting as Superintendent of Police, Tuensang.
USSC, the apex student body of the Sangtams, had begun its first phase of sit-in-protest against the transfer and posting of Sejongmong on Friday. Meanwhile, the Eastern Nagaland Students' Federation (ENSF) has urged the State government to fulfil the demands of the USSC, reports our Tuensang Correspondent. The ENSF in a statement issued by its president Y.P. Chillio viewed that transfer of Sejongmong as SP, Tuensang, was "wrong".
"If the State government wants to be fair in its dealings it should bring another official in place of Seijomong," the ENSF demanded. It lauded the DAN government for initiating several developmental programmes in the under-developed districts but at the same time affirmed to stand by all its federating units that were "fighting for the cause of the people".
The ENSF cautioned that though it has a "moral obligation" to the DAN government, yet it would not hesitate to go against the government in the interest of the "Eastern Nagas".
India to demand Bhutan-type operation in Myanmar Sunday, September 10, 2006 (New Delhi):NDTV
With reports of northeast insurgent groups operating from Myanmar, India will press for measures to flush them out like Bhutan's crackdown on the ULFA in 2003. New Delhi will raise its concerns with Yangon over the activities of the insurgent groups during the 12th Home Secretary-level talks beginning on September 13. Sources in the security establishment say that there are reports on the activities of insurgent groups in Myanmar and their whereabouts.
New Delhi will utilise the four-day talks to make the demand for flushing them out, besides raising issues like drug trafficking and smuggling. They said some insurgent groups from Manipur and Nagaland were operating from Myanmar and cited the instance of the killing of some Assam Rifles personnel by insurgents.
They said New Delhi would take up the matter seriously with Yangon. Though Bhutan launched 'Operation All Clear' to flush out ULFA militants nearly three years ago, neither Bangladesh nor Myanmar has so far agreed to similar action against Indian insurgent groups.
The northeastern states have been voicing concern over this issue, pointing out the importance of Myanmar as the gateway to East Asian countries from the strategic point of view. (PTI)
Affiliation move cannot succeed: MSF The Imphal Free Press
IMPHAL, Sep 7: The Manipuri Students Federation has said the current movement being initiated by some Naga civil society bodies loyal to the NSCN(IM) regarding affiliation of private schools located in four hill districts of Manipur namely Ukhrul, Chandel, Senapati and Tamenglong to the Nagaland Board can never be fulfilled or realized.
Asserting the movement has root in the NSCN(IM)`s political agenda of having a greater Nagalim which can never be achieved or realized, a MSF statement said forcible imposition of Nagaland board textbook upon students in the four hill districts will not only spoil career of the Naga students in particular but also to the future generations of the people living in the four hill districts in general. The political application that these Naga civil society bodies have been adopting in the affiliation issue is to have more land for Nagaland, it said.
The demand that Nagaland Boad textbooks should be taught in schools located outside its jurisdiction contradicts the general norms as being practised by every states in the country, the MSF said adding the step being taken by some Naga civil society in Manipur on the issue have revealed the hidden agenda behind the movement.
Made wiser by the fragmentation of the state into four parts, Assam government made compulsory for every schools in the state to follow textbooks prescribed by the Board of Secondary Education Assam. However, the Board of Secondary Education Manipur Act of 1972 says that only the schools which are recognised by the board will have to follow textbook prescribed by the board.
The Naga bodies which are initiating the affiliation issue is taking all the chances from the loophole that the BSEM Act had made, the MSF said adding it was due to lack of both the short and long term planning by the state government on education policies.
Generally students bodies launched agitation on the matter relating to lack of infrastructures or shortage of teachers or towards improving standard of education. But the current movement is being done due to insistence by some vested interest group to achieve their goal without ever acknowledging the interest of other communities inhabiting in the four hill districts, the MSF said adding those initiating the current movement should be solely responsible in case career of the students are spoiled out of the current movement.
The MSF fully understand that the adoption of Nagaland boad textbook in schools of Manipur is a stepping stone towards making a Greater Nagaland and hence the students body remain silent on the affiliation issue. The MSF however maintain it began to keep an eye so as to avoid destruction to educational related infrastructures and saving career of students in the four hill districts which are being spoiled by the current affiliation movement.
Pressure groups react angrily to CM`s statement The Imphal Free Press
IMPHAL, Sep 9: All Manipur Government Aided College Teacher`s Association, the Manipuri Students Federation, All Manipur Die-in-harness Appointment Demand Committee, all of which have been launching different forms of agitations regarding their respective demands are up in arms against chief minister O Ibobi Singh`s declaration that none of the demands are reasonable and the state government is not a position to fulfil them.
Mentioned may be made here that during his speech yesterday at the inaugural function of Manipur Fire Service`s Thoubal substation, the chief minister had outrightly rejected the demand for upgradation of aided colleges, revival of the die-in-harness scheme apart from the demand for affiliation of private schools in the four hill districts of Manipur to Nagaland board.
Reacting sharply to the chief minister`s revelation, All Manipur Government Aided College Teacher`s Association said such irresponsible statement from the head of the state revealed Ibobi Singh`s illogical, short sightness and irresponsibility regarding the issues confronting the state.
The Manipuri Student`s Federation, in the meantime, said the chief minister`s speech is nothing but an invitation to more violent agitations from organisations which are currently up in arms on the issue of school affiliation and the upgradation of aided colleges. Though the chief minister has rejected the demand by some Naga bodies regarding affiliation of private schools in the four hill districts of Manipur to Nagaland board, despite being head of the state, O Ibobi Singh himself remain inactive in tackling the violent agitations in the hills, MSF said in a statement.
While accusing the chief minister of showing indifferent attitude to the demands of the students of aided colleges who have been deprived of attending classes for over two months, the MSF said that arresting striking teachers or lodging agitating students under NSA would not bring any solution but rather deepen the situation. In the meantime, All Manipur Die-in-Harness Demand Committee said last night`s ransacked of electricity office at Mekola in Imphal West was carried out by its volunteers who were deeply anguish over irresponsible and illogical statement of head of the state. Asking the chief minister O Ibobi Singh to made a clarification to what he had stated yesterday at Thoubal, the committee cautioned that SPF government shall have to borne responsibility for more destructions to be done on government properties.
Tangles of conflict Himmat Singh Gill Holy Warriors by Edna Fernandes. Penguin/Viking. Pages 332. Rs 450.
OFTEN it takes an outsider to tell us Indians a simple home truth. Journalist Edna Fernandes, of Indian origin and brought up in London, journeys into the heart of Indian fundamentalism, as she terms it, and comes out with a long list of intolerance and radicalism that has gripped large segments of the Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Sikh population. Winding her way through this vast land, she ends her book with a finding, that "the new India is looking for a leadership which understands the formidable challenges of economic and social change ahead, not one purely seeking to avenge the religious wrongs of the past". The question she leaves unanswered, however, is that will our religious leaders come forward with a will and purpose to steer their flock away from bigotry and revenge; if and when there are fair and sane political leaders around who will not pander to electoral vote banks and play populist politics for their own and party gains.
In the Kashmir valley, where claims and counter claims continue to be made depending on whom the author speaks to, elicits a typical Kashmiri inhabitant’s reply, "Azadi (we want)—Freedom from Indian security forces. Freedom from terrorists". A senior police officer says, "Infiltration has improved over the last year", by which he really means that infiltration has declined. A political issue has raised its head, and the growing currency is the intelligence funds that buy informers and sources. Elsewhere in Delhi, the Shahi Imam of the Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, opines in an interview with Edna, "You know, we have been framed. The international community has placed the Muslim inside the frame of terrorism. This has to end." Adil Saddiqui, head of public relations at Deoband in early 2005, is not against education for women as the Taliban were, "We’re not against education of women. Education of women is encouraged. But not alongside men, it has its...evil effects". Mufti Habibur Rehman at Deoband when asked whether violence in the name of self-defence was un-Islamic, says, "It is not un-Islamic. It is necessary. Every moral law allows for self-defence. They are fully authorised". There are so many different voices that speak for the Muslim generation and mind, and Fernandes seeks all shades of opinion for her book.
Covering Punjab the "land of the pure", the "militant messiah" and "this turbulent priest" (Bhindranwale), Operation Bluestar, and the killings of Sikhs in Delhi and elsewhere after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, Edna traces a troubled mosaic of the times. She says, "Brar (Maj-Gen K. S. Brar who conducted Operation Bluestar) denied that tanks were used inside the Golden Temple, but other observers reported that tanks were indeed deployed". Brar, of course, needs to recheck his statement, because hundreds who know the details of the operation would vouchsafe otherwise. In an interview with K.P.S. Gill "over whisky" at his Talkatora Road house in the autumn of 2004, Edna quotes Gill speaking of Indira Gandhi that "she didn’t want an Army operation" in the Golden Temple. However, after the BSF and the CRPF expressed their inability to carry out the task, the "Army was called in and they said it would be a question of two hours". Gill continued his interview, "If 1,800 policemen die, I tell you, 5,000 terrorists will die", and utterances, as Fernandes narrates, " ‘I doncare about the Sikhs who call me Butcher of Punjab,’ he said, lifting the tumbler to his lips and polishing off the last of its contents. ‘They tried to destroy me. They tried to build up a case against me. It collapsed around them’."
Edna writes that the "anti-Sikh atrocities ignited a new wave of Sikh fundamentalism that raged for another decade" (this is after Indira Gandhi’s assassination), but leaves unanswered the question as to who were more to blame for the troubled 1990s in Punjab, the rulers with their grand strategies and their law enforcers who worked with a vengeance, or some who let power get to them and never quite comprehended the armed might of the state.
Fernandes is direct and blunt on Gujarat and blames squarely " the Vajpayee’s government that failed to act in February, 2002, when Gujarat was engulfed by communal riots and the state administration was clearly complicit". For Nehru, "the cult-like Association of National Volunteers or RSS was nothing less than an ‘an Indian form of fascism’," she writes. About Hindutva, she writes, "I hope, India will force Hindutva to recognise its own limitations and to adapt itself".
Awarding a plus to country’s religious diversity, Edna hopes that "India will not be straitjacketed into one religious identity, whether that is a Hindu Raj or anything else". The country’s 24 million Christians are also put under the microscope. In Nagaland, such is the "locals’ zeal for Baptist Christianity" that it forms the thrust of their quest "to secede from India and establish a ‘Nagaland for Christ’". In Goa, "a nascent movement among the Catholic community is calling for the Church to admit to the atrocities committed in the name of faith and for Goan Christians to view their history in context," Edna writes about the early era of the Inquisition. Is Edna’s book a travelogue or an unbiased history of contemporary India, and its principal religions and flag-bearers? Possibly both, but whatever it be, her fresh and languid style of telling a story for the modern generation can capture any reader’s interest.
UNC explains ANSAM bans By Our Staff Reporter Sangai Express
IMPHAL, Sep 9: The Uni-ted Naga Council (UNC) has indicated that ban imposed on Meitei Mayek (script), films and songs by All naga Students’ Association Manipur (ANSAM) has become inevitable to check dilution of Nagas’ history from the impact of the Meitei endeavours.
According to UNC general secretary Azang Long- mei Meitei films, songs and script influence the Nagas’ identity, tradition and culture thereby evoking the prohibitions.
Moreover, the Nagas have unfettered rights to live together under a single administrative unit in order to protect and promote their identity, language and their own future, he maintained.
Endorsing the prohibitions, Azang opined that it (ban) could be construed as a part of the Nagas non-cooperation movement against Manipur Govt as was adopted by the Naga People’s Convention.
Echoing similar sentiment on bans enforced in the hill districts of Senapati, Chandel, Ukhrul and Ta-menglong - UNC’s publi- city secretary S Milan asserted that Nagas’ aspira- tion to unite under a single geographical entity and administration unit is not a recent development.
“Nagas are one and we have to make our own future and others should appreciate our movement ins- tead of defying it,” he said and cited carving out of Jharkhand, Uttaranchal and Chattisgarh states to drive home his point.
The Manipur Govt majority of which are formed by Meitei legislators has always been a stumbling block on our path to achi-eve our legitimate goal, he alleged while saying ‘we can have a good and friendly neighbourhood’.
Mention may be made that ANSAM in a statement yesterday had announced ban on script with immediate effect and set Sept 17 as the deadline to enforce the ban on Meitei CDs/cassettes.
Naga students’ body ‘bans’ Manipuri language Assam Tribune
IMPHAL, Sept 9 – A Naga students’ association has “banned” the use of Manipuri language in four Naga-inhabited hill districts of the State with immediate effect, reports PTI.
The All Naga Students’ Union Manipur (ANSAM), in a statement yesterday, said that “imposition” of Manipuri language on the Nagas would not be tolerated.
The ANSAM said they would also “ban” Manipuri songs and films in Ukhrul, Tamenglong, Senapati and Chandel districts from September 17.
Official sources said there was no question of imposition of Manipuri on the Nagas and added the language was the linguafranca of more than 30 different communities in the State.
The sources pointed out there were several Naga or Kuki communities such as Tangkhul, Mao, Kabui, Maram, Khongsai and Thadou who spoke Manipuri.
Our Correspondent adds: Earlier, Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi has reiterated that his government will not bow under any form of pressure from any quarter.
Reacting to the series of strike by some hill-based student organizations for the proposed affiliation of some schools under Nagaland Board , Ibobi said yesterday that affiliation or textbooks were introduced on certain policies adding one State cannot interfere in policies of other states.
He also appealed to all not to call bandh or blockade as part of pursuing their demands. It may be worth mentioning here that under the renewed directive of the All Naga Students Association Manipur, as many as 28 government high schools were ransacked in the Ukhrul district on Wednesday evening and the effigies of the Chief Minister and Education Minister were burnt at the Ukhrul district headquarters.
Effigies were also reportedly burnt in Chandel area which is dominated by the Naga community the same day as part of intensifying their agitation against the Manipur Government’s opposition to the affiliation of over 100 private schools in four Hill districts of the State under Nagaland Board of Secondary Education.
Naga students body said, the Manipur Board textbooks distorts the history of the Naga community. They further alleged that the majority Meitei community has imposed ‘Meitei script’ on the Hill students.
However, the State Government had been clarifying that there is no such pressure or distortion which the Naga student bodies as well as United Naga Council refused to accept.
Inaugurating the newly constructed Fire service sub-station here at this district headquarter, 24 km south of State capital, Chief Minister Ibobi appealed to the people to work for the welfare of the future generation.
On the issue of aided college teachers strike, Ibobi once again stated that the demands of the teachers are unjustified. Ibobi was not happy over the numbers of teachers which outnumbered the students and also the poor performance of the government aided colleges.
Myanmar's rights abuses create health crisis Nagaland Post
BANGKOK, SEPT 9 (DPA): Rampant human rights abuses have created a humanitarian crisis in eastern Myanmar, on a par with other disaster zones seen only in Africa, says the first epidemiological survey on the country's conflict areas. The survey, aimed at demonstrating the correlation between rights abuses and declining health, was conducted by the Back Pack Health Workers, voluntary mobile health units that have been operating in eastern Myanmar since 1998. 'Chronic Emergency', the first survey of health conditions in a region where the government is waging a campaign against ethnic rebel groups, found that mortality rates, disease and malnutrition were far higher than elsewhere.
"The mortality rates are more like those of Angola, Rwanda, Somalia, Sierra Leone and other disaster zones," said Voravit Suwannvanichkij, a researcher from John Hopkins University who helped compile the survey. Infant mortality in the area was found to be 91 to every 1,000 births, compared with Myanmar's national average of 76 per 1,000 and Thailand's 18 per 1,000.
Child mortality for under-five-year was 221 per 1,000, compared with Myanmar's average of 106 per 1,000 and Thailand's 21 per 1,000. "One out of every 12 women in this area may lose her life around the time of childbirth, deaths that are largely preventable," said the survey report.
By far the biggest killer in the area was malaria, which infects 12 percent of the population, giving rise to increasing incidents of drug resistant forms of the disease. Of the 2,000 households surveyed, a third had suffered from forced labour, 10 percent from forced displacement and a quarter had had their food confiscated or destroyed by the Myanmar military.
Security stepped up in hill schools, Govt offices Nagarealm.com
Imphal, Sep08 [TSE] : To prevent recurrence of the September 6 incident, wherein volunteers of suspected student organisations targeted Government schools located in the hill districts, security measures have been strengthened in and around Government institutions.
Senior police officials including IGP and DIG have reportedly rushed to Ukhrul district today to take stock of the prevailing situation there after the violent repercussion on the ongoing text book row resulted in huge loss of properties of Ukhrul Higher Secondary School.
While sources confided that strong security steps had been taken up in Ukhrul district, SP of Chandel district G Bimolchandra sharma told The Sangai Express of similar measures being adopted at Government offices and schools while mobile security teams have been put on high alert.
"We have extended all out effort to foil any damage on such installations," said the police officer and added that the recent agitation in the district was limited to burning of effigies.
according to Tamenglong district SP Chownghuna, personnel of manipur Rifles/police have been put on static guard at the Zonal Education Office (ZEO) located in the district headquarters in addition to intensifying mobile checking in and around Government run educational institutions.
Police sources also affirmed that state forces have been put on high alert in the periphery of Senapati district Deputy Commissioner's office where the ZEO office is attached.
The fluid situation prevailing in some of the hill districts is associated with the agitation call of ANSAM demanding affiliation of hill district schools to the Nagaland Board of Secondary Education and denouncing alleged misinformation campaign slur launched by the State Government.
Karbi Anglong goes all-out to bid violence goodbye The Morung Express
Dimapur, Sept 9 (MEN): Different Organizations in Karbi Anglong, Assam and Meghalaya are working hard to restore peace in the conflict torn Karbi Anglong district, and to adopt pre-emptive measure, so as to thwart the repetition of the like of the last Karbi-Dimasa conflict along the sensitive Assam-Meghalaya border, which is dominated by tribal populations.
On September 5 last, mass peace rally was held at Am-e (Kanduli) along the Assam-Meghalaya border, where hundreds of peace lovers from different villages of the area partook in the said rally. It was jointly organized by Diphu Citizens Peace Forum, United Christain Forum, PCI and CYPM. Similar peace moves had also been held in various places, earlier, in the border where tribal populations were predominant. Several eminent personalities from Hamren, Kanduli, Halflong, Diphu and Shillong spoke during the rally.
Prominent among the speakers were Welson Kro, Ex-MAC, T. Lavo from Jowai, D.C Haia. While strongly voicing against the violence, all of them echoed the necessity of peace for the development and prosperity of the region. The speakers also maintained that violence conflict is never a part of the tribal traditions and culture, and called upon the people of the region to maintained unity and peace amidst all diversity for the prosperity of the area.
Tom Mangathuthazhe of Diphu Citizens Peace Forum told The Morung Express that the idea of the rally is to help people restore peace in their area; sensitized them on the adverse impact of violence on developmental process and also as precautionary measure against the possible violence in future along the vulnerable Assam-Meghalaya border. Tom also said that rally is significance in the wake of the possible involvement of ‘third force’ in churning up violence amongst the different ethnic groups of the area, as experience in the last Karbi-Dimasa conflict.
Source also said that after the rally a meeting was convened by the organizers for the villages Gaonburas, where more than 38 leaders from different communities attended the meeting. The meeting was aimed at strengthening the peace initiative by sensitizing the village elders on the futility of violence, and to make them aware of the various forces detrimental peace in the area.
Besides, the peace messages from the leaders of the area, songs on peace was presented by College Youth on Peace Mission (CYPM) while cultural items were also presented by the local youth to foster peace in the region.
