Re: Nagas burn buildings in Manipur, Indian soldiers killed
**Row over integration rocks Indian province **
Randeep Ramesh, south Asia correspondent
Tuesday July 12, 2005
The Guardian
The north-eastern state of Manipur in India was rocked by violent protests and its highways were blocked by demonstrators yesterday, cutting the region’s valley off from the rest of the country. Indian soldiers have been on high alert in the state after security forces fired on protesters when they went on the rampage, torching government buildings over the weekend. More than 20 offices were burned down. At least six protesters were injured when security forces opened fire on hundreds of people in a town outside the state capital. Later that day a heavily armed group of men ambushed an Indian army patrol, killing three soldiers. In Imphal valley a blockade has been enforced for the last two weeks, sending the prices of essentials rocketing and also prompting warnings from local doctors that they were running short of medicines. Manipur, on the India-Burma border, has never been completely free of violence but in recent years a combination of alienation and a steady flow of guns and heroin has fuelled growing resentment of Indian rule. The people of the state are south-east Asian in appearance and, thanks to Victorian missionaries, are mainly Christian.
The latest riots appear to have been sparked by a demand by the people of a neighbouring Indian state, Nagaland, to swallow Manipur. Naga supporters in Manipur also want to be integrated with Greater Nagaland, an entity that would redraw the map of India by slicing off parts of neighbouring Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh - all of which have sizeable Naga tribal populations. “Manipur is facing being blocked off by Nagas for a demand we can never meet,” said Pradeep Thanjim, the editor of the Imphal Free Press. “Manipur cannot surrender its mountain passes and water sources to another Indian state. It is a question of survival.” The Indian government is struggling to find a solution to the Naga issue. Peace envoys have held 20 rounds of talks with representatives from the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) in New Delhi since December, but nothing concrete has emerged.
After decades of guerrilla war, the NSCN began peace talks with New Delhi and the two sides agreed a ceasefire in 1997. The deal is due to expire this month and Naga leaders say their minimum demand is a unified Naga state - even if that means the disintegration of the present provinces. “Who gave the government of India the right to divide the Nagas? We will not settle for anything less than Nagalim [Nagaland],” Thuingaleng Muivah, head of the NSCN said. “If India listens to the Assamese and the other states and not the Nagas then there will be no political solution.”
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