Date:10/07/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/07/10/stories/2005071011240100.htm

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Offices in Manipur torched

IMPHAL: At least 10 Government offices across Manipur were torched by protesters on Saturday. This follows a two-day fresh blockade of the national highways by the All-Naga Students' Association. Passengers in Imphal-bound buses from Assam and other States were stranded at Mao on the Manipur-Nagaland border, cutting off the State from the rest of the country. All buses which left Imphal for the neighbouring States returned, official reports said.

Offices of the Public Works Department, Agriculture, District Information, Fisheries, Sericulture, Forest and Block Development were set ablaze in Tamenglong, Ukhrul, Senapati and Chandel districts.

The arson followed injury to two protesters in a scuffle with security personnel in Senapati district on Friday. The protesters were trying to enforce the economic blockade on national highways by stopping the movement of Imphal-bound trucks with essential items.

The Association vice-president Ngachomi Charomei told reporters at Senapati that the fresh blockade had nothing to with the 16-day-old indefinite economic blockade of the National Highway 39 connecting Imphal and Guwahati. The Association has blocked the highways since June 22 preventing essential commodities from reaching Imphal.

The indefinite blockade was to protest the recent Government decision to declare June 18 a holiday to observe `Manipur Integrity Day.' It had said that the decision was against the Naga plan for unification of all Naga-settled areas. — PTI