Our Correspondent
Imphal, July 27 (EMN): In order to facilitate the ongoing Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement with 23 militant groups under two conglomerates namely Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and United People’s Front (UPF) in Manipur, the government has appointed former Intelligence Bureau (IB) Director Debendra Sharma as its interlocutor on Thursday.
Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh said “the step has been taken up to bring an amicable solution within a time frame” during the ongoing assembly in Imphal. Clarifying the questions and observations by seven opposition Congress MLAs including K Ranjit, Kh Joykisan, Yamthong Haokip, Md Abdul, K Meghachandra and Md Abdul Nasir over the report of state’s inability to maintain law and order in hill areas, Biren who hold the home portfolio said the house of 60 members that the state government has a clear cut stand to bring an early settlement as the people continues to face many hardships due to frequent violation of ground rules by the cadres of SoO signatory groups.
He also recalled the recent killing of a young girl at Moreh, a border commercial town where police arrested a SoO cadre for his involvement. Informing that the new government has tightened up its belt to curve the unwanted incidents in the state, he said, so far 52 cadres (SoO groups) have been arrested for violating SoO ground rules.
Reacting to charges of increasing number of illegal tax collection on the highways, he said, stern actions were taken to ban such illegal acts and strict instructions were given to the police and other security agencies. Around 33 NSCN cadres were also arrested for extortion related cases this year, he added. Stating that no one is above and anybody which is found guilty will be punished, he added.
Further he said that the state government has approached the centre to initiate dialogue in this regard and the next round of talk with the SoO signatory groups is likely to be held soon to sort out the problems.
According to Union Ministry of Home affairs website, the SoO agreement with KNO is valid upto July 21, 2017 while agreement with UPF is valid upto June 8,2017. Manipur government and the Centre have signed SoO agreement for stopping counterinsurgency operations against 21 armed groups under two conglomerates namely KNO and the UPF on August 22, 2008 where KNO and UPF represented eleven and eight Kuki militant outfits respectively.
The agreement was signed by the then principal secretary (Home) of Manipur D S Poonia and joint secretary (north-east) of the Union Home Ministry Navin Verma on behalf of state and Central governments respectively. According to sources, eight members each from the KNO and the UPF has reportedly signed the agreement on behalf of different outfits.
Later two more groups also operating in the hills district of Manipur signed SoO pact on March 24, 2012, reports added.
