NEW DELHI, January 4 (Vision Communications): United Naga Council of Manipur (UNC) is all set to review its long-awaited demand of an “Alternative Arrangements within the state of Manipur” in its Consultative Committee meeting scheduled to be held in Senapati District Headquarter on 5th January (Saturday) morning. The meeting will also discuss the “current volatile situation” of Manipur in the wake of recent killing of two Tangkhul youth allegedly by underground outfit United National Liberation Front and the alleged attempt to rape a girl at Napet Pali area in the state by some underground Kangleipak Communist Party cadres just on the eve of Christmas.
Disclosing this to the Vision Communications, the UNC General Secretary Gaidon Kamei maintained that “we will discuss in details all the pending issues including recent happenings and chalk out our next strategy including action plan to intensify our democratic struggle to achieve our goal.”
The Consultative meeting scheduled to start at 11 am, will witness over 50 Naga leaders from different frontal organizations interacting and expressing views on different relevant issues.
Tension between the hills and the plains of Manipur has been whipped up after the recent incident of the alleged assault of Manipuri film actor Momoko during a public event in the Naga inhabited Chandel district by a senior NSCN (IM) leader Livingstone. He apparently fired a few rounds in the air to scare away some of the male artistes who made an attempt to protect actress Momoko. The incident had caused sharp reactions from both the valley and the hills. Besides Manipuri film industry and intelligentsia, many Naga leaders including Naga Musician Guru Rewben Mashangva condemned the incident and demanded justice.
The UNC too in a press release demanded that the case of alleged assault against the actor should be investigated by a “competent authority” and justice should be delivered at the earliest. However, the UNC has also demanded that the Government of India should intervene and nab the culprits belonging to KCP and the UNLF who were involved in the alleged molestation of a girl and the killing of two Tangkhul youths and punished as per the law of the land or else handed over to the Naga Council for trial as per Naga customary law.
Sources also hinted that a UNC delegation is expected to visit Hebron camp in Dimapur soon and meet the NSCN-IM General Secretary Th. Muivah and Chairman Isak Chishi Swu to get a clear picture about what the Nagas of Manipur can expect in the event of a final solution to the ongoing Indo-Naga peace talks.
The UNC already had a four rounds of talks with the Centre on the “Alternative Arrangements” demand. The fifth round is supposed to be held in Manipur. The UNC leadership is expected to get a direction from the NSCN (IM) collective leadership about their future course of action.
