Singh warns country, pushes Pak

Rap on Assam, Manipur, Nagaland - Chief ministers bond in capital

New Delhi, Aug. 18 : Assam, Manipur and Nagaland today drew flak from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who said the situation in these states remained “problematic and worrisome”. “Assam and Manipur account for a disproportionately large number of violent incidents reported from the Nor-theast, with the latter’s share being as high as 30 per cent,” Singh said while inaugurating the chief ministers’ conference on internal security here. Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi’s government faced criticism from all quarters. It was clear that the Centre was unhappy about the situation exacerbated by outfits like the Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel) in North Cachar Hills district as it posed hurdles to development in neighbouring Manipur and Mizoram as well. The criticism was levelled not only at control of insurgent groups but also questioned the utilisation of hundreds of crores of rupees granted to these states. “In Assam, the Centre had sanctioned Rs 750 crore for development of the Bodo areas. But the utilisation of these funds remains unsatisfactory,” the Prime Minister said. Singh asked Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh to put in place appropriate mechanisms. In a lacklustre speech, Ibobi Singh kept asking the Centre for help and sought a ban on pre-paid mobile phones in the state to tackle militancy. His speech apparently did not cut ice with the Prime Minister’s Office. The Prime Minister also expressed concern over the resettlement and rehabilitation of people affected by violence in the Bodo areas and in North Cachar Hills of Assam. After a rap from the Prime Minister, Gogoi’s speech did not reflect his demeanour. “I am happy to state that because of the relentless counter-insurgency operations by the security forces under the Unified Command structure, violent activities of militant outfits have been controlled to a large extent in the state in 2009 except in NC Hills,” he said. Immediately afterwards, however, Gogoi conceded that the pro-Ranjan Daimary faction of the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) had stepped up violent activities on the North Bank of the Brahmaputra. Home minister P. Chidambaram iterated that the Centre would talk to any group only if it abjured violence, laid down arms and offered to surrender. Like the Prime Minister, he, too, made no bones about his disappointment on the performance of these states. The home minister said he regretted to say that he could not report much progress in the Northeastern states. He even made an oblique reference to some state governments’ soft approach towards militants. “At times, we find that some state governments have allowed themselves to bend before insurgent groups, making the fight against insurgency that much more difficult,” he said. Recently, Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio’s statement on “emotional integration with Nagas in Myanmar” had raised eyebrows in Delhi. While the statement seemed a tacit approval of the NSCN (I-M)’s demand for integration of Naga areas, today Rio blamed the NSCN (I-M) of hobnobbing with Harkat-ul Jehad-al Islami (Huji), a fundamentalist group of Bangladesh. Chidambaram will now hold discussions with the state governments and chalk out state-specific strategies to deal with insurgent groups “in the three most affected states”.