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Violence if truce extension revoked: Nagas

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

The leaders of the United Naga Council from Manipur met the Union Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani on Thursday and expressed regret that the Indian government has agreed to review the extension of the ceasefire agreement reached between the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Issac-Muivah) on June 14, 2001 at Bangkok.

They requested to the government not to buckle under pressure from a small faction of people from Manipur and warned of violence by the Nagas if the truce extension is revoked.

Talking to the media in Delhi the President of the United Naga Council Paul Leo said that the home minister assured them that he would keep in mind the viewpoint of the Nagas before taking a final decision about revoking the ceasefire agreement.

"Some people have deliberately given the view that since a lot of violence took place in Imphal therefore the whole of Manipur was burning. The truth is that only Imphal valley was witnessing violence. The media unfortunately did not give the correct picture. Over 90 percent of the Manipur remained peaceful," he claimed.

"The extension of ceasefire has given us an opportunity to bring peace to Nagaland which has been witnessing violence the last 53 years. When Nagaland was created in 1963 some of the Naga areas went to other states. This was a mistake this should have been corrected long ago," he said

"In 1964 when the ceasefire was extended to Naga areas in other states nobody said a word and it lasted for seven years. Now they are suddenly against the same thing. Let me emphasis Imphal is not Manipur and the Indian government should not succumb under pressure," he warned.

The delegation also distributed copies of an open letter to Prime Minister Vajpayee in which they have warned that the revocation of the extension of the ceasefire would lead to militarization of Naga areas in other states.

"The government of India will be held responsible for another cycle of bloody military confrontation with the Nagas. The government's policy of appeasement by deciding to review the ceasefire agreement will be at the cost of hard earned peace process," the letter said.

SEE:
The complete coverage of the truce extension issue

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