Samata, CPI against enlarging Naga ceasefire

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JUNE 15. The Central Government's decision to extend the area of ceasefire with the Nationalist Social Council of Nagaland(I-M) to all Naga-inhabited areas in the entire northeast has come under sharp attack from the Samata Party, a constituent of the ruling NDA and the Opposition Communist Party of India.

The Samata Party said the move would cast a long shadow over the entire northeast and expressed concern that the Centre had not paid heed to the caution of Manipur representatives and Government, who were upset with the new agreement with the NSCN (I-M).

Addressing a press conference, the Samata Party general secretary, Dr. Shambu Shrivastwa, and the former Manipur Chief Minister, Mr. Radha Binod Koijam, said today that the Centre had not consulted State Government when it was in power.

Mr. Koijam, whose Government was voted out of office last month, said the decision to enlarge the ceasefire area was a

`Himalayan blunder' and ignored the resolutions of the Manipur State Assembly. The people of the State had already begun expressing themselves against it.

The State unit of the Samata Party at its political conference on Wednesday, which was attended by the senior leader and former Defence Minister, Mr. George Fernandes, had adopted a resolution warning of the dangers of extension of the ceasefire to Manipur. The Samata Party demanded that the Vajpayee Government call an all-party meeting to find a way out and said the issue would be raised during the monsoon session of Parliament.

The CPI said the extension of area ``amounts to conniving with the NSCN(I-M) on its demand for a Greater Nagaland.''

The move would give the outfit a free-hand to extend its activities to the Naga population in the entire northeast, especially Manipur and Assam.

The CPI (ML-Liberation) echoed similar views and demanded that the Centre pull out of the talks and instead come out with a comprehensive package of solutions to the long- standing problems of the entire northeast.

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Section  : National
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