All party nod to truce extension in Manipur

IMPHAL, March 27: The second meeting of all political parties held at the conference hall of the CM's secretariat with Chief Minister Radhabinod Koijam in the chair this evening decided to extend the ongoing unilateral ceasefire by one more month in consultation with the Centre and agreed to the formation of a Peace Committee to launch a peace campaign with effect from April 14 next. Responding to a demand by the leaders of the different political parties, Chief Minister Radhabinod Koijam in the meeting agreed to produce a white paper showing the technical grounds of the ceasefire. While reviewing the performance of ongoing unilateral ceasefire, Chief Minister Radhabinod Koijam claimed to have received positive response from two underground outfits to the ceasefire declared by the state government. He, however, did not disclose the names of the underground outfits. Almost all representatives of the different political parties considered that the ongoing unilateral ceasefire has reduced the activities of the anti-social elements though violence still continues to some extent. They urged the Government to extend the ongoing ceasefire by at least three months. The meeting decided not to consider the rejection of the unilateral ceasefire by some underground outfits but agreed to pursue its activities of bringing them over the negotiating table. It also discussed the difficulties of ignoring the NSCN(IM) as its leader T Muivah is a subject of the State even though he is struggling for Nagaland. Chief minister Radhabinod Koijam was asked to include scholars, representatives of the NGO's and leaders of all sections of people in the constitution of the peace committee to begin the peace campaign throughout the State. Representatives of all political parties urged the Chief Minister to initiate a joint forum of Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya to find out a solution to the insurgency problems in these states. After listening to the demand of the different political parties, Radhabinod agreed to work at his level best with the support of the people to initiate the forum of the Northeast states. He also assured that his Government would try to extend the unilateral ceasefire in consultation with the Centre by another month before the ongoing ceasefire ends on March 31. three former Chief Ministers-Rishang Keishing of Congress, RK Ranbir of MPP and W Nipamacha of MSCP attended the meeting and ventilated their views on the achievements of the ceasefire. In the meeting, at least 20 representatives of they different political parties deliberated on the issue of extension of the unilateral ceasefire. Considering the performance of the ongoing unilateral ceasefire, former Chief Minister RK Ranbir wanted the government to open dialogue with the UGs by sending emissaries to them.