IMPHAL, December 10: The United Naga Council has announced a 48 hour general strike in all Naga inhabited areas of the state from the midnight of 12th December.
A statement of the UNC has said that it has felt necessary to register strong resentment to the statement of Shambhu Singh, Joint Secretary (North East), Ministry of Home Affairs, GoI that the demand for an Alternative Arrangement is “quite hazy” and that the matter of upgrading the Alternative Arrangement talk to the political level has been left to the State Government to resolve with the UNC.
While the dialogue process is kept “quite hazy” by such officials, the policies of the government of Manipur (GoM) to usurp the land of the Nagas and tribal continues unabated, it said.
The assertion of the Zeliangrong Youth Front to protect the land of Nagas and opposition to slicing of huge chunk of our land to create Jiribam district has the support and endorsement of the Naga people, it continued.
After the submission of the postulates of the demand for an alternative arrangement in the August 31, 2012 tripartite talk at New Delhi and also after having attended all the six rounds of talks, Shambhu Singh still disrespectfully maintains that it is “quite hazy”.
Instead of facilitating a sense of direction in the democratic process of dialogue, he is creating confusion for reasons best known to himself, the statement said.
It was the general agreement in the 6th round of talk held at Delhi on August 30, 2013 that the talk process would be upgraded to the political level and Shambhu himself requested for a two month period for convening the next round of talk, the statement continued.
We cannot accept such statements made from official position of the GoI and have been compelled to register our strong resentment. It is therefore decided that a 48 hours total bandh on National Highway 37 would be observed in Naga areas with effect from the midnight of December 12, 2013 as a first phase of protest preceding the indefinite ban on construction work on National projects in Naga areas.