Naga leaders snub talks offer in Manipur

SENAPATI - Leaders of the United Naga Council (UNC) and the All Naga Students Association (ANSAM) did not turn up for scheduled tripartite talks with the Manipur government and central government representatives here on Saturday.

After a meeting of the state cabinet on Wednesday, it was decided that a ministerial team would be sent to Senapati district to negotiate with the Naga leaders.

The three-member team consists of T.N. Haokip, Minister of Tourism, N. Biren Singh, Minister of Sports and DD Thaisii, Minister of Tribal Development, along with Naveen Verma, Joint Secretary (Northeast).

Verma said that all the demands raised by the Naga groups are in the domain of the state government.

The UNC had presented a four-point charter to the central government, which included the issues of alleged suppression of their rights by the Manipur state government, the issue of killing of Naga student during the protests, the withdrawal of Section 144 from Naga areas and revoking the Wanted tag on their leaders.

Disappointed with the central government’s failure to address their demands, the UNC imposed a 20-day economic blockade along the national highway leading to the landlocked Manipur, bordering Myanmar, since Wednesday.

UNC activists burned tyres and blocked National Highway-39, disrupting vehicular traffic for a while.

The blockade has been called on NH-39 (Imphal-Dimapur) and NH-53 (Imphal-Jiribam).

Paramilitary personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force, the Border Security Force and the India Reserve Battalion (IRB) have been deployed on both the highways. (ANI)