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04/11/2012: "'IM' daydreaming, says Gaikhangam Source: Hueiyen News Service"

'IM' daydreaming, says Gaikhangam Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, April 09 2012: Clarifying the report over the proposed Greater Autonomy status for Nagaland instead of Supra State Body, Home Minister Gaikhangam today said that NSCN-IM is still day-dreaming with Supra State or Greater Autonomy status with administrative and financial control over parts of Manipur and some other North Eastern States of India.

Hitting out at NSCN-IM, Gaikhangam said that it is like searching for fish after the oil has been already heated on the frying pan.

All these speculations are baseless and would bore no fruit, he said while assuring intact territorial integrity of Manipur to its people.

He was speaking to editors of local media in a meet at MPCC office here today.

When asked about the various crimes involving state security forces which have been reported in the state since he took the charge of Home Minister, Gaikhangam said that the government would not support any guilty security personnel.

Necessary legal actions would be taken up against them and they would be punished in accordance to the law of the land.

He said that four persons who raped a woman from Khoupum are under judicial custody.

The two IRB personnel who were involved in the incident were also placed under suspension.

One of the IRB jawans was on AWOL (Absence without Leave) while the other was overstaying on leave.

The case has been handed over to a DSP and charge-sheets are being prepared against them so that there is no loophole in punishing them with stringent penalty.

In another instance, eight IRB jawans including a Subedar of 3rd IRB Saivom Post were detained by 42 Assam Rifles at Bongyang while they were travelling in a Unit Bus from Kakching along with 93 kgs of suspected Ephedrine powder in four carton boxes, 9,60,000 pieces of tab Polyfed, 4,18,500 pieces of Tab Respified in 6 airbags, 5,76,000 pieces of Tab Respified in 16 carton boxes on April 2 .

After verifying the report, a case was registered under NDPS Act by SP Chandel and they have been arrested and remanded into custody.

ADGP (AP & Trg) conducted a thorough enquiry as per order of DGP Manipur.

After the preliminary enquiry, JC No 409 Subedar Md Jaherudding of 8 MR (attached to 3rd IRB), the Post Commander of Saivom Post who was leading the team and the seven other personnel namely Ksh Prafullo, S Vio, T Dhanabir, N Ramajit, A Rameshwor, Th Tiken and driver E Debananda have been placed under suspension.

Draft charge has been issued and a Departmental Enquiry is under progress for awarding major penalty against them, he said.

Today also, DGP Manipur received a DO letter from MLA Md Abdul Nasir stating that personnel of Narcotics Cell, Imphal West detained a driver illegally, who was reportedly carrying some banned items in order to extort money.

Acting on the letter, the DGP ordered an enquiry by DIG (Range-I) L Kailun.

Prima facie enquiry was established against three constables of Narcotics Cell, Imphal West and Inspector W Ibocha, OC Narcotics Cell.

Inspector Ibocha and the other three constables namely Ch Bikram, M Ranan and Ch Dinachandra were placed under suspension.

A Departmental enquiry has been ordered against them, Gaikhangam added.

Gaikhangam further said that he is targeting to establish a good relationship between the people and police.

Acknowledging that increasing corruption and immoral activities among the police personnel are due to various loopholes and mistakes in the schooling of the personnel, Gaikhangam assured that he would try his best to correct the mistakes in police department.
Home Minister Gaikhangam on Supra State Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, April 09 2012: Home Minister Gaikhangam has brushed aside the report about New Delhi's offer for Supra State body or any similar arrangement to appease NSCN-IM as nothing but a pipedream.

Speaking to media persons at his official quarters at Babupara this afternoon, Gaikhangam stated that the question of Supra State body is just a pipedream which would never see the light of day.

"It's like heating cooking oil and preparing condiments for cooking fish curry when one does not have any fish", Gaikhangam stated in a satirical tone.

Earlier the Guwahati based Seven Sisters' Post reported that New Delhi was planning to offer Supra State body to NSCN-IM in place of Nagalim.
Nagas: A sense of urgency Augustine Bruno Eastern Mirror
As the year releases us further into the future, many of us had already face harsh reality and many of us are yet to face the reality. We see a warning sign each day in different ways, and somehow in one way or the other way, the facts confirm it the next day.
We walk a different road each day into the future, not knowing what will happen the next moment; the sense of insecurity in ourselves and in our own land! We are forced to live in an uncertain world and at the same time, we must learn how to live in an uncertain world.
We must (as individual/organization/society) ceaselessly rethink ways of carrying out each task. The era of drawing close boundary has shadow us in many different ways.
Now, it is a different era we are facing with, an era where we believe in more freedom and more evolving democracy in the society. It is no more an era of unreason, of paradox, of despair. We must live with the changing era, combat it to live with a different approach; explore for different opportunities/tactics to be applied in a single given situation. We must give a chance to believe in the approach of its member’s ideas, thoughts and at the same time, let us not misuse the freedom of speech and expression in any forms. We must believe in questioning, in exchanging, in sharing and discover a better result by exploring different forms. We must believe that shattering of old limitations and great accomplishments are still possible.
Let us believe: men, women and children can all spur this revolution and guide for new birth in ourselves, for our society, and for our Nation.
Supra-State Rumblings Seven Sisters Post | (Apr 10): :
Many may wonder why home minister P Chidambaram is now silent on the “supra-state body” controversy. But moment the polls are over, the Centre is back with a proposal (again reported only in Seven Sisters Post) that it was offering the NSCN “maximum autonomy with administrative and financial control” over Nagas residing in states adjoining Nagaland.

So, one can see the contours of a developing storm in Northeast, unless the Congress-led UPA government diffuses it by its time-tested delay tactics. The Centre might be using the Naga issue to experiment with a new “maximum autonomy” formula that could not only solve the half a century old Naga problem but could also be a possible answer to all the separate statehood demands from Bodoland to Bundelkhand. Without doubt, this “maximum autonomy” formula will have to step beyond existing constitutional parameters and attempt to work out a new autonomy paradigm for the whole nation.

If India’s lawmakers and the usually routine-serving bureaucracy discovers a new path to address the problems of ever-multiplying statehood demands, the Naga issue could be used as a trial ground for what could stabilise the whole country
UCM, AMUCO denounces Greater Autonomous Council proposal
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, Expressing strong resentment over the proposal of a Greater Autonomous Council for Nagaland in place of the earlier Supra State Body proposal by the Centre, United Committee Manipur (UCM) and All Manipur United Clubs' Organisation (AMUCO) today stated that the proposal of the India government for a Greater Autonomous Council is like inviting another June 18 to the people of Manipur.

In a joint statement, UCM and AMUCO recalled how the India government forced the people of Manipur to revolt against the government and sacrifice 18 valuable lives for the sake of protecting the territorial integrity of Manipur when Cease Fire Agreement with NSCN (IM) was extended 'without territorial limit' .

The joint statement alleged that in many instances, the state government acted like a puppy before the NSCN-IM and India government whenever NSCN-IM cadres carried out terrorist acts in the state conflicting human casualties, taking innocent lives and extorting huge amount of money from the state.

An IRB CO was given forced retirement for shooting and recovering arms from 11 NSCN-IM cadre at Pallel Lamkhai.

Some cadres of the outfit who were arrested by Manipur Commandos from Kangpokpi were also accorded VIP's status and later escorted upto Mao gate with state honour before setting them free.

Moreover, NSCN-IM instigated its frontal organisations to carry out indefinite economic blockades on the two National Highways giving different reasons.

Thus, the government has been conceding to the high-headedness of the leaders of the frontal organisations and even went to their place to initiate dialogues when court had issued arrest warrant against them, the statement observed.

On the other hand, Chief Minister O Ibobi did nothing when he was welcomed with placards that read 'Welcome to South Nagaland' at Senapati HQ and 'We do not welcome communal Chief Minister O Ibobi' at Ukhrul, the joint statement recalled.

It further recalled that SDO Thingnam Kishan and his two sub-ordinate staffs were murdered by NSCN-IM.

Bombs were exploded in various public places killing and injuring innocent lives only to protest against the election to ADC in the hills districts.

Amidst all these, a news report of Seven Sisters' Post which reported about an alternate Greater Autonomous Council instead of the previous Supra State Body has sparked uncertainty and apprehension in the minds of the public wondering whether the India government is again playing a dirty trick with the people of Manipur to please the NSCN-IM.

Adding to the confusion is the act of the Manipur government in keeping quite over the news report, it added.

The statement further stated that all the 60 MLAs who have sworn to protect the territorial integrity of the state before the election have vanished when it is the time for them to raise their voices against the proposal of the Centre which might turn into reality soon.

Demanding a clear stand on the matter from both the state government and the Centre, the joint statement warned of another June 18 like public uprising if the government fails to heed the warning of UCM & AMUCO.

If the government goes ahead with the proposed Greater Autonomous Council without respecting the territorial integrity of Manipur and the aspiration of the people, the joint statement stated categorically that UCM & AMUCO would not remain silent over any decision of the government which is against the interest of the people in Manipur.

It also called upon the people to stay alert over the proposal and raise their voice.
Naga orgs revisit AFSPA era with UN Rapporteur Morung Express Al Ngullie: E Pao
A number of Naga civil organizations recently joined other northeast region-based Human Rights organizations in Assam’s Guwahati to express their denouncement of the Black Law, the infamous Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act of 1958 of the Government of India. The dark decades of the 1950 till the early 1980s in Nagaland under the hand of the AFSPA-empowered Indian military, was the presentation of the Naga organizations to the United Nations Special rapporteur Christof Heyns during the meeting.

Mass-based civil groups from the North Eastern Region had converged in Guwahati during March last week when Christof Heyns was in India to recommend to the Indian government to repeal the draconian law, among other repressive state laws.

From Nagaland, a number of leaders from the Naga Peoples’ Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR) and some from the south Naga areas attended the open meeting with Christof Heyns. The meeting was held March 28, at Hotel Bhramaputra in Guwahati proper.

(Press Release)
KOHIMA ATTACK OF 1956 : AZ . JAMI.

While offering heartfelt condolences of the sad demise of Late. Brig. Khashepu Kath, I, AZ Jami would like to supplement with some corrections of the writing of Mr.Joel Nillo, carried in the local paper of 3rd April 2012 under the caption “Naga patriot laid to rest” about the Naga Hills District Capital Kohima attack or rather siege in his word in the summer of 1956. Whatever people may say or claim, the District Capital Kohima attack, as Mr.Joel Nillo had rightly projected was the major event in the Naga National movement which drew the attention of the Indian people as well as the foreign well-wishers.

I was then a sergeant (Havildar) in the then Naga Home Guards and participated in that fighting and when the attack or siege ended, I was promoted to 2nd Lieut. That’s why I remember some of the events of the siege. Yes, Lt. Brig. Khashepu Kath was also a Commandar of one of the groups. From the Lothas, Late. Brig. Etsonyimo Tsopoe, a former veteran of Indian army, took command of one of the groups. And Late. Brig. Tsemomo Ovung, a young, brave and intelligent Indian Army soldier become one of the sub-ordinate Officers under Etsonyimo in the rank of Captain.

During the time, Late Gen. Thongti Chang was the Chief of the Naga Home Guards and Late Gen.Yanpamo Lotha was the Adjutant General of Naga Home Guards in the rank of Lieut.General. Both of them stayed together at Rukroma (Now Rosuma) and directed and supervised the Kohima siege. But while the Naga fighters were on the verge of victory, a dispute arose between Naga Home Guards and the Naga Safe Guards, and the Naga safe Guards who were assigned to block Dimapur – Kohima road withdrew enmasse. Then the enemy, the Indian army came in Battalions and Brigades from Dimapur and re-captured the Kohima town. The Indian Soldiers marched in hundreds on foot from Dimapur to Kohima and the vehicle carrying loads of supplies moved in hundreds behind the soldiers. Then the Rosuma Village was heavily bombarded by Indian Army and kept in ruins at the time.

The divisions among people face defeats. The present Naga situation is just like that. Therefore, let us unite again and put up a united effort for the common cause.

A.Z. Jami
Senior Kilonser, NSCN

'Assam issue may be resolved in less than a year' Sanjib Kr Baruah, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, Hope and optimism were on a definite high on the first day of Govt-United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) talks on Monday. Noting 'significant and tangible progress', the government has said a resolution of issues look a 'bright possibility' in less than a year. "The understanding of the
issues and the appreciation of the difficulties of what is achievable and what is not…a very good beginning has been made. A resolution looks possible very soon and definitely in less than a year," Shambu Singh, joint secretary (North East), who participated in the talks along with Union Home Secretary RK Singh, told HT.
Singh's statement is significant in the backdrop of the lingering talks with the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN) that has been ongoing for the last 14 years.
Declining to pinpoint the exact areas where the 'tangible progress' has been made, Home Secretary RK Singh said: "it won't be beneficial to the process if I talk about it now."
ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa also expressed happiness. "We are very happy with the way the government is looking at the issue. We only hope that the talks translate into action."
"If this is the way the talks progress, a resolution of issues appear a distinct possibility in less than a year."
Noting that Monday's talks focused on the "most serious and sensitive" issues, Rajkhowa emphasized that the process could veritably address the loss of national identity of the Assamese people which has been a result of the colonial character of the prevailing administrative apparatus. Talks with the ULFA has started after a hiatus of six months. Seven top ULFA leaders, including Rajkhowa, participated in this round of talks.
The Paresh Barua-led ULFA faction continue to hold out in camps along the jungled Myanmar-China border, steadfast in its opposition to the ongoing talks.
ULFA was formed 33 years ago at the historic Ronghor to start an armed rebellion to fight for Assam's independence. Ever since, the conflict has claimed more than 12,000 people.
Beijing Behind Eastern India Separatists? Written by Nava Thakuria Asia Sentinel


ULFA rebels ready for action
India alleges China funding, arming United Liberation Front of Asom
China allegedly is funding support for a banned separatist organization and its leader, Paresh Baruah, along the Northeat Indian mountainous region of Assam that abuts Tibet, say sources who have visited Buruah in Burma.

China has for decades assailed the border established as the McMahon Line in 1914 by the British colonial government, alleging that the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing calls Southern Tibet, is illegally occupied by India. The two countries fought a border war in 1962, with China invadng well inside India before withdrawing.

Nearly cut off from the rest of India by a spur of Bangladesh that juts up almost to Nepal, Assam is one of five eastern states that lie close to the confluence of Myanmar, China, Nepal and Bhutan. Cut off economically as well from the rest of the country, the five states have often been the site of unrest and criticism of the central government for ignoring their economic needs.

GK Pillai, the former Indian home secretary, said during a public meeting at the Assamese capital of Guwahati on Feb.13 that many insurgents in northeast India maintain relationships with Chinese intelligence officials. He also claimed that Beijing was directly or indirectly supporting militant leaders including Paresh Baruah, who heads a militant faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom. Pillai also revealed that Baruah’s wife and two sons, who were still hiding in Bangladesh, had expressed their interest to come back to Assam.

The elusive ULFA leader was quick to reject the allegation, saying in a statement a week later that ‘GK Pillai’s comment on the ULFA is baseless and an outcome of frustration.” China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Liu Weimin also dismissed the charges saying that Beijing upholds the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries.

But Indian intelligence agencies stick to the report that Baruah has established a comfortable relationship with some levels of officers of Beijing administration. The leader, equipped with Chinese weapons, security guards and a satellite communication system, has been traced to the jungles of northern Myanmar to Ruili of Yunnan, where the arms deals are struck with various small groups of northeast India.

The intelligence source also disclosed that the Chinese Army has recently modernized their arms and ammunition, offloading old and used weapons to arm dealers and ultimately to militants in Myanmar and northeast India.

While the Indian government’s assertion could be dismissed as propaganda, Rajib Bhattacharya, the execuitive editor of the Seven Sisters Post English-language daily and Pradip Gogoi, a cameraman from Prime News, went into Myanmar recently to meet the ULFA leader, reported that a Chinese security cordon surrounded the encampment, and that no Assamese cadres were with him.

ULFA was born in 1979 with the aim to make Assam a sovereign nation although the organization is split today, with one faction comprising all senior leaders including its chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, engaged in talks with the Indian Union government.

Baruah, however, continues to maintain the armed struggle. He was driven out of Bhutan in 2003 when the Bhutanese flushed out its ULFA hideouts, shifting his operations to Bangladesh during the regime of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party led by Khaleda Zia in Dhaka. However, when the Awami League government of Sheikh Hasina Wajed took the reins in 2009, most of the militant leaders and their families from northeast India, including those of ULFA, were arrested and secretly handed over to Indian authorities.

But Baruah escaped. After being declared a wanted criminal by a Bangladeshi court, he returned to his jungle bases in northern Myanmar, bordering the northeast Indian States like Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. The Myanmar region, also bordering China’s Yunnan province, has increasingly emerged as a safe haven for many other militant groups from Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura and Assam.

The banned groups reportedly run camps in the hilly, heavily jungled terrain where they are comparatively safe from both Burmese and Indian forces. They train new recruits, extorting money from the wealthy in their respective states, and issue press statements on various occasions.

Two recent e-mails drew the attention of the mainstream Assamese, arguing on behalf of China’s sovereignty over the region. In the 1962 border incursion, the Chinese captured the state of Arunchal Pradesh, even venturing westward as far as the city of Tezpur in Assam on the banks of the Brahmaputra River. However, they withdrew after the United States and France warned Beijing following pleas from the then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

The region has been disputed for nearly two centuries, with Burmese staging a series of attacks between 1820 and 1826 until they were defeated by the British, which brought the region under colonial rule in the Yandaboo Agreement signed in 1826.

The ULFA statement issued on March 31 insisted that Assam ‘should build bridges with China’ for its own prosperity. A friend like China is crucial for the people of Assam, it added.

Referring to the ‘Indo-China war of 1962’, the statement asserted that India had fallen backward from the war front in Arunachal, that the People’s Liberation Army had reached the border of Assam and did not occupy an inch of Assam’s land, proving “who our friend is, it stressed. “So there is no logic for any anti-China movement in Assam,” the statement asserted.

The faction claimed on Mar. 26 that New Delhi is ‘secretly setting up nuclear missile bases in northeast India, because of its growing conflict with China.’ Baruah asserted in a press statement that ‘the Indian government has already completed surveys for setting up bases for Brahmos cruise missile (Indo-Russian Technology) and Akash nuclear missiles in Nagaland and Assam’.

ULFA’s awakened interest appears to coincide with growing activity on the part of Tibetan refugees in Guwahati, including street demonstrations and press conferences, with the cause for a free Tibet suddenly gaining momentum, which has caught the attention of the Chinese. Hundreds of Tibetans observed the Tibetan National Uprising Day in Guwahati on March 10, commemorating Tibetans’ first massive uprising against the Chinese occupation in 1959. Clad in traditional dress and holding Tibetan national flags along with the Indian Tricolor, nearly 300 Tibetan exiles moved through the streets of Guwahati, also organizing a candlelight procession at the heart of the city in the evening.

Attending a public meeting in Guwahati on March 26, Gyari Dolma, the home minister of the Tibetan government in exile, appealed for help, saying ‘Tibet is closer to northeast India than China.”

The hardliner ULFA faction countered by criticizing the Dalai Lama for “not being sensitive to the suffering of Assamese under Indian rule.”

“We are not aware of any voices raised by the Dalai Lama (or any Tibetan refugee taking shelter in India since 1951) against New Delhi’s oppressive action in Assam, especially in the period of Assam movement (1979 to 1985), when 855 students were shot dead by the government forces,” the militant group claimed in a statement. “ Even later also, the exiled Tibetan establishment has not expressed its concern on the atrocities and human rights violations going on in Assam in the last three decades of armed movement.
MoS Defence inspects border fencing Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, April 10 2012: Union Minister of State (MoS) for Defence Dr MM Pallam Raju today arrived here along with Director General of Border Road Organisation (BRO) Lt Gen P Ravi Shankar; Chief Engineer of Project Pustak, BRO and other officials of Defence Ministry.

He came from Nagaland in a chopper and flew straight to Moreh where he inspected the border fencing work being taken up along the Indo-Myanmar border.

At Moreh, the Union MoS for Defence was received by IGAR (S) Maj Gen UK Gurung; Brig Upendra Dwivedi, DC Chandel, representatives of different communities and students of the border town.

He also crossed the Indo-Myanmar border bridge and inspected the condition of the bridge.

Later talking to mediapersons, Dr Raju said that the road renovated by BRO from Moreh to Tamu was satisfactory.


Union MoS for Dr MM Pallam Raju along with Army officials during the inspection


After the inspection, the Union MoS for Defence convened a joint meeting with various district level officials before flying back to Imphal.

At Imphal, Dr Pallam Raju met Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh at the Chief Minister bungalow at around 4 pm for nearly 40 minutes, but the details of the meeting could not be ascertained till the time of filing of this report.

The Union minister also met Governor Gurbachan Jagat at Raj Bhavan where he would also be holding the night.

In the evening, a dinner was hosted in his honour at the Banquet hall of 1st MR.Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh was also present at the occasion.

Cultural dance and folk songs were also displayed prior to the dinner.

The Union MoS for Defence would be visiting Tamenglong district and Jiribam sub-division on Wednesday for inspection of work being taken up by BRO on National Highway 37 which links Imphal with Assam and other parts of India and inaugurate a road newly constructed by Assam Rifles in Tamenglong district.

Afterward, he would be visiting Jiribam sub-division, Imphal East district to have a first-hand account of the progress made so far on railway tracks being laid to connect Imphal with the rest of the country, official source said.

It may be mentioned that the progress of the work being undertaken by BRO along National Highway 37 has been alleged to be very slow by truck owners, truck drivers, and various civil society organizations.

Letters and memorandums urging the Union Government to speed up the progress of the work along this highway before the rainy season have been submitted by various concerned parties.

The Union MoS for Defence would leave Imphal tomorrow afternoon.