Insurgent group NSCN-IM claims its ceasefire with Centre ‘covers all Naga areas’
GUWAHATI: Major Naga insurgent group National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM) has slammed the Manipur government for lodging a complaint with the Central government on the issue of its camps in the state.
“… Manipur government and the political leaders that are at the helm of affairs should exercise caution and restrain themselves from giving out any irresponsible statement to provoke the Nagas, lest it turn out to be a historical blunder and undo the age-old relationship detrimental to all,” the NSCN-IM said in a statement.
The BJP-led government in Manipur had on Wednesday urged the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to make the rebel group immediately vacate the “unauthorised” camps that were “mushrooming” in the state.
Making a reference to COVID-19 relief distributed to the insurgents by some civil society organisations in Manipur’s Chandel and Senapati districts, Chief Secretary J Suresh Babu, in his letter to the MHA, had pointed out that the territorial jurisdiction of the ceasefire, signed between the Centre and the NSCN-IM in 1997, was limited to Nagaland.
The NSCN-IM, however, claimed it covered “all Naga territories, and thus, peace process covers all Naga territories.”
“This spirit has guided the 22 years of Indo-Naga political talks throughout. It was this mutual understanding and respect that has carried the talks this far…We have the foresight that Indo-Naga political solution will bring about peace in the Northeast region of India and will immensely benefit the people of Manipur, politically and economically,” the insurgent group added.