IMPHAL, July 10: A high security alert has been sounded in all the nine districts of the state as the Naga Crusaders deadline against a certain community ended today.
Even though various organizations both from the hill as well as the valley districts of the state, including the Naga People Organization, have called the Naga Crusaders a bogus and non existent body the government is not ready to take any chances and has as such provided a high security blanket over all districts of the state.
According to a highly placed official source, the recent threat which first came out in a Nagaland based daily ‘the Nagaland Post’ has been seriously discussed in a high level state security force meeting and with the matter concerning the communal harmony of the state, the meeting has decided to take it with utmost care and seriousness.
With the main objective to maintain normalcy and communal harmony in all districts of the state, especially the hill districts of the state, addl DGP Law and Order has officially informed all the concerned district Superintendents of Police through wireless messages to maintain vigil and take up high security measures at all vulnerable areas of their respective districts.
Further according to the source, the official message of the addl DGP L/O also reportedly advised the concerned SSPs and SPs of the hill districts of Churachandpur, Senapati, Ukhrul, Chandel and Tamenglong to verify the threat immediately and report back to his office at the earliest.
Meanwhile, in response to the ADGPs message, extensive security measures have been taken up round the clock since the past two days at the district headquarters of all hill districts of the state in the form of regular patrolling and vigil at vulnerable places of all districts, stated the source.
Meanwhile, a similar crash message of the SSP Imphal West circulated last Friday to all police stations and outposts of both the Imphal West and East districts said many complaints of leaflets having strong communally inflamatory wordings being slipped into shops around the Naga river and nearby areas of North AOC by Naga Crusaders during the early hours of July 6 last were received by the police.
Taking the matter seriously, the wireless message of the SSP has further advised all the concerned police officials of both the Imphal East and West districts to verify the matter at the earliest, added the same source.
It has further advised all the concerned to find out the real identity of Naga Crusaders and monitor the issue continously and to take up all possible precautionary measures to effectively maintain peace and harmony among the various communities in the state.
Meanwhile, the NPO has termed the Naga Crusaders threat as irrelevant and baseless and has appealed to the general public to ignore such bogus propaganda.
In an e-mailed statement, the NPO has stated that the threat was served by a s/s group and that any group or individuals restoring to such unscrupulous means will not serve or solve the present volatile prevailing situation but only complicate it.
The statement released by its president ML Markson further said, “Moreover, similar ghostly act and vested misadventure of some individuals cannot disturb the much anticipated peaceful environment in the District”.
While demanding an immediate end to the spreading of the threat, it has further appealed to the state government to check and prevent similar provocative activities as it will only ignite communal tensions among the people.
It has also added that the silence of the state government into the matter also indicates a ‘confusing and irresponsible mood’ to the people of the State.
It further stated, “When the present scenario has inflicted communal tensions among the people, the attempt to derail a peaceful and honorable solution will not be tolerated. Moreover, in a diversified state like Manipur, any other communities cannot instigate or plot such inhuman ways to widen communal feelings between any particular community and the Nagas in Manipur. Any form of means to annihilate humanitarian solution to a problem will only invite collateral damage”.