DIMAPUR: Alleging that it was a "pre-planned move by the Assam Rifles" to restrict the movement of its cadres across the state, the NSCN (IM) on Saturday called upon the Naga civil societies to unite against the Assam Rifles (AR). The meeting was attended by Naga Hoho, Naga Students Federation, Naga Women Hoho Dimapur, Naga People's Movement for Human Rights, Naga Council Dimapur and Senior Citizens Forum.
"It is time the Nagas to put up a fight against the Assam Rifles," a top NSCN (IM) official told the Naga civil societies at a meeting held at Hebron Camp Saturday evening.
The NSCN (IM) leader maintained that it would not bow down to the pressures of the AR and said that the 5 AR jawans were not abducted by them, on April 19. On the issue of weapon confiscation, he said, NSCN (IM) would return the weapons in exchange of the arms seized by AR. Stating that NSCN has never refused to hand back the weapons, the leader said that there should be a "reasonable negotiation".
Senior kilonser (minister) of the outfit alleged that the violation of the ceasefire ground rules was a 'pre-planned' move by the Assam Rifles, who also took full advantage of the situation to restrict the movement of NSCN (IM) cadres.
Alleging that the present tussle between the NSCN (IM) and the Assam Rifles was the brainwork of Shambu Singh, who is currently serving as joint secretary (Northeast), ministry of home affairs, another kilonser of the outfit said that in order to fulfill his ambitions of becoming the chief secretary of Manipur, Shambu Singh is feeding the home ministry with fallacious information.
"For Shambu Singh, ceasefire and a solution to sort the current political fiasco in the state hold no importance. He only aims to be the chief secretary of Manipur," he added.
NSCN (IM) also expressed doubts over the credibility of CFMG chairman Major Gen (rtd) N George. Naga Hoho members, who met George in the morning prior to his departure for Hebron, said the chairman assured to return the weapons confiscated by AR from I-Card holders of NSCN (IM) if the latter promises to do the same.
Naga Students' Federation, while insisting that it would not tolerate the misdeeds of the AR, told the NSCM (IM) leaders that the organization supports the outfit's decision of not returning the confiscated weapons. The three-and-half hour meeting, however, did not contemplate on the future course of action and decided to meet again in a day or two.
Earlier in the morning, around 50 women from Kamdi village walked 3 km to Doyapur to confirm reports of AR frisking the villagers, including children and women. They alleged that villagers carrying farm products were harassed by the AR troops and some carrying more than Rs 5000 were also detained by them.