Imphal, May 11: The Naga tribal group has sent an open letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday seeking his personal intervention. An indefinite economic blockade for the past one week enforced by various Naga tribal groups to protest the Manipur government’s decision not to allow separatist leader Thuingaleng Muivah to visit his birthplace has literally brought the state to a halt. The Manipur Government has banned the entry of Muivah in the state, where he has planned to visit his ancestral place, Somdal, contending that it will create a law and order problem and might disturb the peace in Manipur.
“The blockade has resulted in acute shortage of food, medicine and other essential commodities in the state and very soon the entire life support system in the state would collapse,” said Babloo Loitongbam, leader of Human Rights Alert, a leading rights group in the state.
Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio said “The Cabinet unanimously condemned the use of state machinery by the Manipur government to suppress the voice and democratic rights of the people,” referring to the fatalities in Thursday’s police action at the Mao checkpoint on the Nagaland-Manipur border.
The northeastern state of Manipur is in the throes of a breakdown with hospitals putting on hold all routine surgeries due to non-availability of oxygen cylinders while stocks of all essentials, baby food, and life saving drugs have almost dried up.
Hundreds of trucks carrying essentials and medicines were stranded in the adjoining state of Nagaland with protesters laying a siege on National Highway 39 – the lifeline of Manipur – to protest the state government’s decision not to allow Muivah, general secretary of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) separatist group, to visit his birthplace in Ukhrul district, about 220 km from Mao.
“We have stopped all routine surgeries from today (Monday) with supplies of oxygen cylinders getting exhausted,” Y. Mohen, superintendent of the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), told.
Earlier on may 8,2010 Naga students in New Delhi expressed their anger over the ‘unwarranted firing’ by security personnel at the Mao Gate in Manipur on May 5 that led to the death of two women and injured over a hundred others.
Senior Nagaland officials, who visited the Mao area, said two Naga students were killed and many sustained bullet injuries when the police opened fire at those waiting to welcome Mr. Muivah. Simmering tension continues in the bordering areas between Manipur and Nagaland after security forces Thursday killed three people and injured 70 more in clashes with Naga protesters who wanted Muivah to travel to his birthplace.
A police spokesperson said several areas in Manipur’s Senapati district, dominated by Nagas, have blocked the highway by resorting to sit-in protests leading to disruption in road communication between Manipur and the rest of the country.
“It is nothing less than anarchy in Manipur now,” said T. Singh, a college teacher.
The student activists said it is imperative that the Central Government intervenes to defuse the current situation and allow Thuingaleng Muivah, General Secretary of the rebel National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak Muivah (NSCN-IM), to visit his home in the state without any further delay.Muivah had proposed to visit Somdal, located in Ukhrul district, between May 3 and 10.
“Our leader has not been allowed to visit his birthplace. This is not possible, it is his democratic right, the Government of India has given him free movement and is with him. We want the Government of India to act sincerely,” said Livingstone, one of the activists, who took part in the protest march.
“This violation of human rights should not be there and Thuingaleng Muivah should be allowed to visit his birthplace. It is his right and his duty,” he added.
RIMS is the only medical college and hospital in Manipur and the biggest healthcare facility in the state of about 2.4 million people.
Landlocked Manipur depends on supplies from outside the region with trucks from the rest of India carrying essentials passing through Nagaland.
The NSCN-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) has been operating a ceasefire with New Delhi since 1997 with the two sides holding close to 60 rounds of peace talks aimed at ending one of India’s longest running insurgencies.
The Manipur government maintains the ceasefire with the NSCN-IM does not extend beyond Nagaland and hence Muivah’s visit to Manipur was not acceptable.
The NSCN-IM had earlier demanded that all Naga-inhabited areas in the northeast, including Manipur, be integrated by slicing off parts of three neighbouring states to unite 1.2 million Nagas and create a Greater Nagaland.
The demand is strongly opposed by the states of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.
The violent insurgency in Nagaland has claimed around 25,000 lives since the country’s independence in 1947.
—Agencies