35 hurt as Manipur protests continue

IMPHAL, JULY 8. Police burst teargas shells and resorted to lathicharge on over 10,000 anti-ceasefire rallyists at Nambol in Bishnupur district today, injuring at least 35 persons. Official sources said the protesters took out a rally and held a meeting, denouncing the ceasefire extension to the Naga-inhabited areas in Manipur.

As the crowds swelled and began to get out of control, police resorted to lathicharge and burst teargas shells in which 35 rallyists were injured. The condition of 10 of them was stated to be serious.

They were taken to the Regional Institute of Medical Science Hospital. A procession was taken out by over 3000 persons in the Pallel-Kakching area in Thoubal district.

Large-scale sit-in protests were also reported from across the State as the Army and paramilitary forces have stepped up security measures.

Lawyers' plea

Meanwhile, lawyers and retired judges of Manipur have demanded amendment to the Article three of the Constitution to protect the State's territorial boundary.

In a memorandum to the Governor, Mr. Ved Marwah, the High Court Bar Association (Manipur), the All Manipur Bar Association, the Young Lawyers Forum (Manipur), the All Manipur Lady Advocates Association and the retired judges of the State said the territorial extension of the ceasefire had made the State's people apprehensive.

Truce suicidal, says BJP leader

IMPHAL, JULY 8. The senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Manipur Higher Education Minister, Mr. H. Bhuban Singh, said today that the Centre's decision to implement the ceasefire extension agreement with the NSCN (I-M) was suicidal.

In a letter to the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Mr. I. D. Swami, Mr. Singh said the recent statement of the Union Home Minister, Mr. L. K. Advani, on the issue showed that the Centre had overlooked ``the conspiracy behind the whole Naga issue.'' Expressing the apprehension that the agreement would lead to the creation of a greater Nagaland, he said it was suicidal.

The BJP leader referred to the `Shillong Accord' signed by the British in June 1947 and said it was done to sow the seeds of Naga problem in independent India. The Nagas ``are not in a hurry. At the moment, they simply do not want to spread territory but the influence of the NSCN (I-M),'' he said.

`Whimsical and arbitrary'

The MPs of the Left Front sharply criticised the Centre for extending the ceasefire without consulting any party, and dubbed the decision ``whimsical and arbitrary.''

The leader of the CPI(M) parliamentary party in the Lok Sabha, Mr. Somnath Chatterjee, told newspersons in Kolkata that a delegation of the MPs, comprising Mr. Subodh Ray and Mr. Nikhilananda Sar of the CPI(M), Mr. Bir Singh Mahato (Forward Bloc), Mr. Ajay Chakraborty (CPI) and Mr. M. Bhattacharya (RSP), had visited trouble-torn Manipur and found the situation there ``explosive.''

The Left would raise the issue in the coming session of Parliament. It would also meet the President, Mr. K. R. Narayanan, and discuss the issue.

Extending `total support' to the agitation by the people of Manipur against the extension of ceasefire, Mr. Chatterjee said ``it is a surrender by the Centre to the insurgents.'' The NDA need not have signed the agreement with the NSCN (I-M) in such a hurry as there was ample time for the earlier ceasefire agreement to expire.

The Centre had neither talked to any political party nor with any other State in the northeast before extending the ceasefire beyond the borders of Nagaland. ``The agreement would pose a danger to the country's unity and encourage various insurgent outfits in the region,'' Mr. Chatterjee said.

- PTI

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