Centre to review Naga ceasefire

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 8. After a stormy all-party meeting here today, the Centre announced that it would review the ceasefire agreement with the Naga militant group, NSCN(I-M), and the process would be completed before the end of this month. Simultaneously, the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, who chaired the meeting, appealed to the people of Manipur to restore peace and calm in the State which has been witnessing a violent agitation against the agreement.

More importantly, it was announced that the `offending words' in the agreement, ``without territorial limits'' would be removed or changed to allay the fear of the Manipuris, and people of other north-eastern States, that the Government was paving the way for the creation of a greater Nagalnd, comprising territories of Manipur and other States, besides Nagaland.

The decision to review the agreement - talks will be held again with the NSCN(I-M) chief, Mr T. Muivah - came after a Home Ministry team, led by the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Mr. I. D. Swamy, visited Manipur and submitted its report to Mr. Vajpayee today.

The party leaders let it be known at the meeting that the Manipur crisis could not be resolved unless the ceasefire agreement was withdrawn or amended to restrict it to the territory of Nagaland.

The meeting at the Prime Minister's residence was attended by the Union Home Minister, Mr. L. K. Advani, the National Security Adviser, Mr. Brajesh Mishra, and several key officials, besides representatives of political parties in Manipur, including the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Samata Party and the Congress.

The parties articulated their well-known position that while they had no objection to any arrangement which made peace with the NSCN(I-M), it could not and must not be extended outside Nagaland.

The MLAs from Manipur, who were under intense pressure to get the Government to rescind its agreement, or to make changes in it, wanted a clear signal before July 31. In the absence of this, they said they had no option but to resign as members of the State Assembly.

Even within the BJP, which has the largest number of MLAs in the 60-member House, the State leadership's view is that implementation of the ceasefire agreement would be ``suicidal,'' - a view that was articulated by the senior State leader of the party, Mr. Bhuban Singh, today. Reports from Imphal suggest that a six-member team of the Left Front, which had left for Imphal a few days ago, also asked for the ``immediate withdrawal'' of the agreement. The Congress Chief Minister of Assam also criticised it.

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