Friday, December 07, 2007

Manipur Burning Topics | December 07, 2007

Debendra, rebel MLAs meet PM separately in Parliament House, Chauhan likely to visit Imphal Sunday; rebels to return home a day ahead
By : A Staff Reporter 12/7/2007 1:01:50 AM

IMPHAL, Dec 6: The campaign to replace chief minister, Okram Ibobi as chief minister by the rebel Congress MLAs who are now camping in New Delhi continues unabated despite the unexpected turn of events in which 10 opposition MLAs including the six sponsored by United Naga Council, UNC, professedly coming out in support of the chief minister.

The rebels have in fact, seemingly succeeded in advancing another pawn on the political chessboard, predicted to cause another serious threat to the chief minister’s defence.

At 11.15am this morning, the man projected as a possible replacement for Ibobi, Th Debendra met the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh at his office room at the Parliament House. Although the details of what transpired are not known, the meeting presumably had to do with the campaign to remove Ibobi as Congress Legislature Party, CLP leader.

Interestingly, the rebel MLAs also met with the PM at 3.30pm again in his room in the Parliament House. Mayang Imphal legislator, Kh Ratan who was among those who met the PM said the latter gave them a patient hearing, claiming that the indications were encouraging for them, although the PM said nothing categorically on the fate of the Ibobi government.

Sources also said Lok Sabha MP from the Inner Manipur constituency, Dr T Meinya, was instrumental in arranging the second meeting.

Promising further intensification of the political drama in the state, the AICC secretary in charge of Manipur, Prithvi Raj Chauhan indicated he may come to the state on Sunday.

One day ahead of his possible visit, the rebel MLAs now camping in New Delhi would also be returning to the state on Saturday.

It may be recalled that the ongoing Parliament session is scheduled to conclude on Friday.

While it is uncertain what the ultimate outcome of the tussle would be, the rebels now claiming 18 physically present in their camp, and two more likely to join in soon, are confident they cannot but succeed.

The Congress commands an absolute majority in the state Assembly with 31 legislators, and if the claims of the rebels are true, they do command a comfortable majority in the CLP.

Under the circumstance, observers are of the opinion that they do have a very strong lever to influence even central Congress leadership to oblige their demand. “Even if they decide in desperation that they would leave the Congress and form another party, their act would not attract the anti-defection law” the observers said.

Ahead of some crucial Assembly elections early next year, this would be a consequence the Congress would want to avoid under any circumstance, they added. [IFP]

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Wungnaoshang hits back at rebel MLAs, Rishang
By : A Staff Reporter 12/7/2007 1:00:52 AM

IMPHAL, Dec 6: Wungnaoshang Keishing, Independent MLA representing Phungyar Assembly constituency has reacted fiercely to criticism from the dissident Congress MLAs over the supposed Opposition interference in the internal crisis in the state Congress, asserting that they have every right to speak their minds concerning the state government.

Wungnaoshang, addressing a press conference today at the state Assembly secretariat however clarified that the recent trip by Opposition MLAs belonging to the Hill Area Committee of the state Assembly to Delhi had nothing to do with Congress internal crisis, nor was it at anyone’s behest. The HAC members had discussed the situation in the hill areas, and the problems faced by the hill people with the Central leaders, Wungnaoshang said.

He however admitted that they had praised the initiatives taken by Ibobi Singh for the development of the hill areas.

‘Eikhoidi apha mibu phei hairamba phattababu phatte hairamba adu khaktani’ (‘All we did was make it clear who is good and who is bad’), he asserted. ‘We have every right to do so, and no one can gainsay this,’ he said.

Wungnaoshang went on to say that no other chief minister of Manipur has till now taken as much initiative for the development of the hills. There has been no other chief minister who has as much respect for the hill people as Ibobi, he said.

Wungnaosang reiterated that the MLAs from the hill areas were only doing their duty, and asserted that as MLAs, they had every right to make their opinions and concerns known, whether it concerns the state government or any other issue. Ibobi Singh is the chief minister not just for the Congress party, but for the state as a whole, he maintained.

He also attacked dissident MLA M Oken for his press statement issued yesterday, charging that the latter was biased against the Nagas, and acted as if he alone loved Manipur.

If Oken genuinely wishes to save Manipur he should stop seeing particular peoples as enemies, and trying to alienate them, he warned.

Attacking the veteran Congress leader, Rishang Keishing as a troublemaker, he said Rishang was the actual leader of the dissident group and the others are only following him. This is no surprise, he asserted, maintaining that he is the one who has been fomenting the trouble. [IFP]

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Army pledges to clear area upto New Lajang on Indo-Myanmar border by month end
By : A Staff Reporter 12/7/2007 12:58:12 AM

SOMTAL (Chandel) Dec 6: In the ongoing synchronized operations “Operation Somtal-2” of the security forces against the militants and their areas of domination in interior Chandel district, so far troops have cleared the presence of militants upto Old Somtal, according to the army authorities who spoke to a media team visiting the spot.

The “Operation Somtal-2” which commenced from middle of November last is the third of its kind launched by the security forces in Chandel area.
At least two major operations in 2006 (in January and December) had failed to clear the area of the UNLF presence. On November 18, the Army launched a two-pronged operation in New Somtal, targeting the ‘293rd battalion’ of the UNLF.

Current operations under the aegis of Headquarter 3 Corps and Headquarter IGAR (S) comprising of whole battalion of 44 Assam Rifles, 6 Assam Rifles and 10 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry started forward movement from Hollenjang village located some 119 km from Tengnoupal sub-divisional headquarters.

Security forces based on intelligence input believed that around 250 cadres of UNLF including some important leaders are still at Lajang village which is yet to be dominated by the troops involved in the operation.

According to them the operation will continue till they take control of the area upto the international border with Myanmar and make the movment of the villagers secure.

“Our main concern is to flush out the UGs and secure the place by removing IED’s planted by undergrounds,” said Brigadier Raymond Noronha who is in overall command of the ongoing “Operation Somtal-2” to the visiting media team.

The media team proceeded upto Changjal village from Hollengjang which is around 17 km from Changjal which the brigadier in charge there declared secure and safe for the villagers to move in.

The media team also spotted the army developing play grounds and distributing sports material to the villagers.

The team also spotted a bunker just on the roadside at Sehlon village, a village located before reaching Changjal and around 15 km from Hollenjang, which according to the villagers was erected by the undergrounds.

“UGs keep coming and going at our village but they never stay for a long time,” said Jamkhothang Mate of Sehlon village.

As commented by the villagers, the coming of the army to their village could improve their living conditions somewhat as they (army) buy their produce and give a source of income by engaging them as labour.

“The Army pays for the work they engaged us for,” a villager said.

Regarding the army’s civic action in the area dominated by them, one army engineering corps has so far constructed a play ground by using JCB and bull dozers at Phelun which has a population of around 70 heads. The population of the village reduced from around 200, as many villagers had moved to Moreh and Sugnu in search of a living and for higher studies which they could not get at the village and nearby areas.

The village has only one private school run by one Lalboy, having upto standard VII only.

The hardship of life in the area is compounded by the fact that villagers have to go to Myanmar for their essential commodities. A place named Bokan on the Myanmar side is the nearest place where they do their essential shopping.

At a small market across the border in Bokan, the villagers sell their agricultural produce and trek back to their village after buying their daily requirements.

Talking on the experience of presence of undergrounds in their villages, villagers said ‘they provides us the much needed medicines and other things. But our main problem with them is they restrict our free movement’.

The villagers believed that the UGs restricted them in their free movement because of presence of IEDs at various places in the jungle.

The road from Tengnoupal to Changjal has been made jeepable but the media team could not proceed beyond Changjal owing to the restrictions from the army authorities, who have declared the area unsafe for civilian movement as they are yet to clear it from all sorts of dangers.

“Our men had dominated upto Somtal which is again 16 km from Changjal and by the end of this month we will reach New Lajang village on the Indo-Myanmar border,” Brigadier RN said with a high hope of achieving the army’s goal this time.

In further talks, the brigadier admitted that the 25-day long “Operation Somtal-1” which was launched in the month of 2006 December had to be cut short due to shortage of manpower along with the coming up of the elections and Christmas festival. [IFP]

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Dr T. Meinya demands separate High Court for Manipur
By : Manipur Information Centre 12/7/2007 12:55:54 AM

NEW DELHI, Dec 6: Participating in the discussion on “Need for harmonious functioning of three organs of the state i.e. legislature, judiciary and executive” in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Dr. Thokchom Meinya, MP from the inner Manipur parliamentary constituency stated that the basic structure of the Indian Constitution was the separation of power among legislature, judiciary and executive.

He said, “There appears, at times, some so-called conflicts rather apparent conflicts in the working and functioning of these three vital organs of the state. The one and only way to avoid and to have these conflicts or aberrations resolved is to practice self restraint and self respect and to practice true professional ethics”.

He also added that none of these organs should try to give directional instructions to the other organs and vice-versa. This would definitely go a long way towards harmonizing the smooth functioning of these organs of the state.

Dr. Meinya referred to Article 214 of the Constitution of India, which provided that there should be a High Court for each state. He said, “The President of India appoints the Chief Justice and other judges. Perhaps, there should not be any difficulty whatsoever in the respective working of these three organs. One has to always note that the Constitution is Supreme.

All the powers of the state are derived from it. So long as we preserve this sanctity of our Constitution nothing to worry about.”

Dr. Meinya drew the attention of the Union law minister that the constitutional obligation of having a High Court for every state of the Indian Union was yet to be fulfilled. He stated that Manipur was yet to have a separate High Court of its own and court cases relating to Manipur were still conducted under the jurisdiction of the Guwahati High Court.

The parliamentarian strongly demanded setting up of a separate High Court for Manipur. If the number of cases was a criterion for it, the number of pending cases for the state was exceeding large, he added. [IFP]

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As the Deputy Commis-sioner has issued strict ins- tructions to immediately do-lled out job cards to the con- cerned BDOs and initiate work following media re-ports about the sluggish pace of progress, job cards has now reached to a good proportion of the populace and its progress have now been noticeable even in the remotest region of the dis-trict.

In the proper township of Lamka, the transformations brought along by the NREGS were substantial. Those paths touched by the scheme were sparklingly fresh and orderly. At points it even appears that the corri-dors were extended or widen as filth that have shared a prominent space along the roads were removed.

The scheme has been ini-tiated in the east, west, north and south of the township and the Deputy Commi-ssioner Sumant Singh is having a tight schedule to inspect the works under-taken. Initially for the past several weeks he had per-sonally launched the work in various locality of the region and by now, the progress and transformation brought along by the scheme were visible in many a locality.

At a time when some locality have almost combed and polished their corridors, there nevertheless were a good deal of localities that still awaits their job cards and the works that comes along.

In the interior sub-divi-sion of Singngat, NREGS has restored the long neglec-ted and discarded inter- village roads that were de-veloped by the British colo- nialist.

Along the Tedim Road atleast three former roads which were abandoned have been revived. These roads though inconsistent for vehicles, were more convenient for the villagers who often travel by foot, as it was shorter.

The pitiable road condition even after 60 years of the nation’s inde-pendence in this part of the country has only provoked the desire to revive the discarded corridors.

TSE

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