From Our Correspondent
GUWAHATI: The interference in just held Manipur Assembly election by NSCN(IM) rebels from Nagaland has raised alarm in Manipur besides raising many questions vis-a-vis the rebel group’s on-going peace process with the Government of India.
The NSCN-IM rebels have been accused of indulged in inducing voters in favour of candidates of Nagaland People’s Front (NPF) in Manipur hill districts dominated by Naga tribes.
The involvement of NSCN-IM rebels in Manipur poll process which has been claimed the Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, has raised question over the NSCN-IM’s sincerity and commitment to the peace process with the Government of India.
The rebels’ bid to disrupt polls in Manipur was in sharp violation of ceasefire ground rules.
The NSCN-IM’s action has virtually consolidated the apprehension that the rebel group has not yet jettisoned its demand for a ‘Greater Nagalim’ that has been firmly opposed by Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh which share boundaries with Nagaland.
The proposed ‘Greater Nagalim’ covers all Naga tribe inhabited areas in Northeast including present Nagaland state.
Because of the precautionary measures taken by the Union Home Ministry through deployment of adequate forces of conducting polls in Manipur on January 28, the NSCN-IM ultras fortunately failed to create widespread disturbance during polls except the single major incident in a remote polling booth in Chandel district where seven persons including security personnel and polling officials were killed during a gun battle with an NSCN(IM) rebel that had entered the polling booth with a pistol.
The NSCN(IM) rebels were rooting for candidates of the NPF which is in power in Nagaland, during Manipur polls.
The NPF fielded candidates in Manipur poll for the first time and it was supported by the United Naga Council (UNC) of Manipur. It was the same UNC which had precipitated 70 days long blockade of NH- 39 in 2010 after Manipur government had prevented NSCN-IM leader Thuingaleng Muivah from visiting his ancestral village in Ukhrul district in Manipur in April that year.
The UNC has also been demanding an alternative administrative mechanism for Naga-majority hill districts of Manipur that is in tune with NSCN(IM)’s demand for a ‘Greater Nagalim’.
The way NSCN-IM rebels meddled in during election in neighbouring state of Manipur is not going to help restoration of peace in the troubled region.