All stakeholders must consulted before final agreement: UCM

GUWAHATI: Frontline civil society organisation, United Committee Manipur (UCM) has asserted that no agreement on Naga peace talks would be acceptable without prior consultation with all stakeholders.

“We do welcome the initiative taken by the central government to resolve the 23-year-long pending peace process. However, if the final agreement is made without consulting various stakeholders of the neighbouring states of Nagaland, and Manipur in particular, if the integrity and the identity of the state is at stake, the United Committee Manipur (UCM) and the people of Manipur will not accept any form of settlement,” B.M Yaima, secretary (IPR), UCM said in a statement.

It may be recalled that an 18-member delegation of COCOMI (Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity), a conglomerate of several prominent civil bodies of Manipur,  had discussed issues regarding the peace talks with Union home minister Amit Shah at his official residence in New Delhi on November 25, 2019.

“Whatever we have discussed and agreed upon in the meeting, we urge the home minister to keep his words given to us and we must respect the mutual understanding we reached upon in that meeting if the contentious Naga peace talks are to be settled peacefully,” Yaima said.

The Centre on Friday resumed negotiations with the NSCN-IM leadership as part of the last leg of the Naga peace talks with efforts on to resolve the contentious issues for a “final settlement” by August 15, 2020.

“We are not against the peace talks, but we cannot compromise on the historical, social, cultural, political and territorial integrity of Manipur. UCM is very closely observing the development in Delhi. Reports about setting the date to ink the final agreement on August 15, 2020, which is just a week’s time from now, make the people more anxious,” he said.

“We can assure that by any chance, if the people of Manipur are kept in the dark and overlooked, the people of Manipur will take their own course of action to decide their own fate, no matter what,” the UCM leader said.