Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Friday asked the Manipur government to end the economic blockade on National Highway-2 imposed by the United Naga Council on November 1. “There is a constitutional duty of the state government to bring back normalcy, and they should ensure that there is no blockade along the highway,” he said. The minister reached Manipur on Friday to take stock of the situation.
Rijiju said the Centre was worried about the situation in the state and asked the government to ensure that law and order prevailed in the region, reported PTI. “At any cost, economic blockade won’t be allowed,” he said after meeting the chief minister. He said that seven additional paramilitary companies were on their way to join the existing 150 companies to help the government end the blockade. Meanwhile, the curfew imposed earlier this week was relaxed in parts of Imphal East district till 9 pm on Friday.
On Thursday, a delegation of Bharatiya Janata Party leaders met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to discuss the situation in the Congress-ruled state. They sought the central government’s intervention because “[Manipur] Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh has completely failed the state”, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said in the meeting with the delegates. The state will hold Assembly elections in 2017.
After the meeting, Singh wrote to thhe chief ministers of Manipur and Nagaland asking them to remove the blockade on the highway that passes through both the states, The Times of India reported. He asked the Manipur chief minster to “discharge these constitutional obligations with utmost promptness”. They have also been directed to deploy additional paramilitary forces and ensure the smooth movement of convoys.
However, Singh has held that the UNC was a “mouthpiece and frontal organisation” of the insurgent group of National Socialist Council of Nagaland–Isak-Muivah. He said the Centre was ignoring the situation in the state despite being in a position to “put pressure” on the NSCN-IM, with whom the government is holding peace talks.
The UNC had called for an economic blockade of the two arterial highways leading into the state to protest against the state government’s decision to upgrade the Sadar Hills and Jiribam areas to full-fledged districts. The blockade was imposed after the Manipur government announced the formation of seven new districts. On December 12, the Home Ministry had said in a statement that no one would be allowed to take the law into their hands.
The economic blockade has left the state reeling, with an array of attacks on the police. On December 18, the Manipur government imposed a curfew in the Imphal East district as a precautionary measure after a strike against the NSCN paralysed the region.
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