Centre's silence peeves COCOMI

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Oct 7: Citing media reports published on October 6 which claimed that the draft agreement of the Naga Accord had been finalised 10 days back, the Coordination Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) has decried Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s failure to communicate anything about the accord to the people of Manipur.
A statement issued by COCOMI remarked that the stoic silence maintained by the Ministry of Home Affairs on such a sensitive issue has forfeited people’s trust.
It said that a reminder in the form of a memorandum was submitted to the Union Home Minister, the Governor and the Chief Minister on September 22 to uphold the agreements reached earlier.  
In spite of the agreements or understanding reached earlier, the Government of India has not been disclosing anything and their silence poses serious risk to the people of Manipur, the COCOMI asserted.
It then called upon all the people who believe in the idea of united Manipur to be prepared to face and fight any inimical development.
It is highly possible that the Government of India takes decisions which cannot be predicted. The proposal to set up an autonomous council exclusively for the Nagas  of Manipur as reported in media is something which is never acceptable to the people of Manipur, the COCOMI said.
It has been pointed out repeatedly that there is no exclusive domain for Nagas, Kukis, Meiteis and Meitei Pangals in Manipur. As such, any exclusive arrangement based on ethnicity will never be accepted, it reiterated.
The draft agreement, as reported in media, says that necessary arrangements would be made so that Nagas of Manipur can elect an MP to the Lok Sabha as a representative of the Nagas, not of the whole State. This is another attempt of the Government to divide the people of Manipur politically based on ethnicity, and ultimately pave way for disintegration of Manipur.
For the past 20 years, the people of Manipur have repeatedly pointed out to the Government of India that any exclusive political set up based on ethnicity or communal policy will never be tolerated, the COCOMI asserted.
On the other hand, the State Government has been only forfeiting people’s trust because of its obscure position on the Naga peace talks and its possible solution.
A large section of people has been questioning the State Government’s failure to enquire and access the latest developments of the Naga peace talks since the Framework Agreement was signed in 2015 till date.
If the media reports that the draft agreement of the Naga Accord had been finalised 10 days back, and it would be officially sealed with or without NSCN-IM is true, then it can be safely assumed that the State Government is defunct, the COCOMI remarked.
Categorically stating that it is the people who must protect Manipur, the COCOMI called upon all the people to be prepared for a ‘war’ to save Manipur in case the Government of India goes ahead with any arrangement which would pave way for disintegration of Manipur in their attempt to appease a single militant group.