IMPHAL, June 22: Concerned with the news report published in a Nagaland based daily ‘The Nagaland Post’ on June 22, 2011 which stated that a certain unrecognized organization calling itself “The Naga Crusaders” has served a notice to all Meiteis residing/staying in the hill districts of Manipur to go away from the hill districts of Manipur, various organizations and bodies of the state have today strongly appealed the local populace of the state not to succumb to rumours and to refrain from any acts which could hurt the peaceful co-existence of the various communities in the state.
Apprehensive about the sensitivity of the issue, and with numerous queries to the state media houses from the general public, the All Manipur Working Journalist Union also called an emergency meeting of all editors of various media houses based in the state this afternoon, to discuss the issue.
A statement issued by the AMWJU said that taking serious note of the report and the confusion it has created; the body contacted various sources to determine the authenticity of the report and the group which issued the reported statement which came out in the Nagaland daily.
It said that on being contacted, the editor of the Nagaland Post conceded that it was an unintentional error committed due to negligence on the part of the daily.
Further according to the statement, the editor of the newspaper while regretting the mistake committed, has assured AMWJU that the staff who committed the error will be sternly warned and also instructed to determine the identity of the group with the help of the email id used in sending the report to his office.
It further stated that AMWJU has intimated various civil bodies to establish the identity of the group.
Meanwhile, the United Naga Council (UNC), NSCN-IM and NSCN-K has revealed that they are not aware of the existence of the so called Naga crusaders group who had circulated the report to the newspaper, on being contacted through their sources, the statement said.
Late in the evening the NSCN-IM in a press communiqué released by its ministry of information and publicity (MIP), termed the group so called “Naga Crusaders” as not recongnised by the Nagas.
It said that the outfit is on a hunt to track down the perpetrator who released the statement and has also appealed to the public not to be apprehensive.
In the meantime, the All Manipur United Club organization (AMUCO) in a statement has also appealed the people not to panic. At the same time it has also appealed the general public to refrain from sentimental activities that could disturb the communal harmony of the different indigenous communities residing together in the state.
It has further appealed the various Naga apex bodies to take strong initiative in finding out the perpetrator and award punitive action against them.
The government concerned should also take precautionary measures to further stone-wall the possibilities of escalation of the issue, added the statement.
The AMUCO has also vowed to confront such intimidation at any cost to retain the co-existence of all indigenous communities in the state.
The statement has further added that there has been such divisive plans in the state in the past also and added that it will always be against such divisive policies and will continue to confront such forces, it said.
The United Committee, Manipur has also sent a memorandum to the Chief Minister of Manipur to take precautionary measures in the wake of the news reports.
this is what we call non-sense news. The Naga Crusaders may be an individual who wants to create chaos. Let’s not give heed to this kind of nonsense threat.