Monday, November 29, 1999

Delhi asks Muivah to back off, wants trucks re-routed

News posted by www.newsinfoline.com

With Manipur reeling under shortage of essential commodities after NSCN-IM supporters blocked the main highway leading to the state, a concerned Centre has directed authorities to divert trucks through the alternate route via NH-53. The Centre has also conveyed to NSCN-IM leader T Muivah to move back to Dimapur.Sources said PM Manmohan Singh has directed officials to keep him updated on the developments as the standoff is still on. Concern levels began to increase in Delhi after reports that hospitals were running out of life-saving drugs and petrol prices were nearing Rs 200 per litre in Imphal. To make matters worse, the majority Meiteis in Manipur too have taken to the streets to block access to roads leading to the hill areas where many Nagas are settled.The situation, sources said, is tense after the firing incident at Mao Gate with the Centre fearing that riots might break out if the matter is not brought under control soon.It is learnt that the Centre's interlocutor R S Pandey is in touch with the NSCN-IM leadership and senior Home Ministry officials have been speaking to authorities in Manipur, Nagaland and Assam to get the blockade lifted.As of now, the model on offer is that Muivah agrees to move out of Viswema village on the Manipur border where he has camped and return to Dimapur while the Manipur government withdraws its forces from Mao Gate. Thereafter, Central paramilitary forces will take over the area until normalcy returns.Earlier, the Centre offered Muivah a helicopter to visit his ancestral village in Manipur but he refused. Now this offer is off the table given the worsening situation.Currently, NSCN-IM rebels and supporters have set up huge blockades along NH-39, the route leading to Imphal.

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