Politics / Manipur

Ukhrul, April 18: At the age of 77, he is only 11 years older to his brother. But in reality, he is a father figure to his sibling, Thuingaleng Muivah.

The modest home of Sangreihan Muivah, unassuming elder brother of the NSCN (I-M) general secretary, is just like any other Naga household.

Sangreihan is reluctant to hazard a guess about what would happen as the Naga peace talks move forward. He does, however, give an idea on how things have shaped for his family since the early days of the Naga rebellion and Th. Muivah’s own association with the movement since the Sixties.

After the...

IMPHAL, April 18 –The Citizens Concern for Dams and Development(CCDD), a common platform of various bodies belonging to different communities, has strongly reacted to Chief Minister O Ibobi’s statement on the proposed construction of controversial Tipaimukh dam. The convenor of the common body and an eminent Naga women activist Aram Pamei while talking to reporters at the white palace hotel here said that the recent statement of the Chief Minister is “totally against interest of the people”.

Quoting reports Pamei said, ‘‘He should not make such a statement if he really felt the sentiment...

Imphal, April 16: Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh, on a roller-coaster ride to keep his flock together, has sought to dispel fears among his loyalists about a possible change of leadership. Ibobi Singh announced that there was no threat to the Secular Progressive Front (SPF) ministry in the state.

“There is no threat to the present government. The constituents of the coalition remain united as ever. The move by the Opposition to pull down the SPF government will not bear any fruit,” the chief minister told The Telegraph today.

Ibobi Singh’s claim that he was firmly on the saddle is...

Imphal, April 12: The Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF) has warned Manipur police that it would launch an offensive against the force if police commandos do not desist from “killing” its cadre after capturing them.

In a statement issued on the eve of the outfit’s “martyrs’ day,” which will be observed tomorrow, the RPF — the political wing of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) — accused the state police of killing “revolutionaries” after arresting them.

It said during the past 20 years, nearly 200 cadre of the outfit have been killed by the force. Of these, 136 were killed by torture in...

Imphal, April 11: Nearly 200 Hmars, displaced by the ethnic conflict in Assam’s Cachar and North Cachar Hills districts, reached here this afternoon.

They were later transported to Churachandpur district, where they will put up in a relief camp.

Of the 196 tribals who reached here in three buses, 61 are children and 44 women. After fleeing their homes in the Hmartlangmawi and Tlangmawi villages on April 3, they spent five days at the Lumding railway station before travelling to Dimapur by train.

Leaders of Hmar student and youth organisations received the refugees at New Lambulane here. The...

German social worker Heinrich Wolfgang was released today after 17 days in captivity by the Kuki Liberation Army, a militant outfit in Manipur. The peace trainer was abducted on March 23 while on an inspection tour of the state. In this first person account to The Telegraph, he rues that he has missed the action in Iraq but is obviously happy to be able to communicate with his family now that his ordeal is over.

The boys told me only this morning that I would be freed. What better gift could I have asked for on my 48th birthday?

I remember that we were returning to the capital city on March...

IMPHAL, April 9: Kidnapped German Heinrich Wolfgang was today released by his captors through representatives of some NGOs in Itham Moirangpurel area in Imphal East district of Manipur, official sources said, reports PTI. The sources said Wolfgang, kidnapped from Maphou area in Thoubal district on March 23 by activists of the underground Kuki Liberation Army (KLA), was now being kept in a hotel here with security guards. The KLA had earlier demanded Rs one crore for the release of the foreigner but it was not immediately known whether any amount was paid to the ultras to secure the safe...

GUWAHATI, April 8 — The Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today informed that the State Government was in touch with Mizoram and Manipur governments for initiating coordinated action to tackle the ethnic violence that has flared up along the inter-State boundary areas in the Cachar district of Assam. Talking to newsmen here, Sri Gogoi stated that as the Hmar People’s Convention (HPC) extremists involved in ethnic cleansing of Dimasas in Cachar areas were based in those two neighbouring States, the coordination with the two State governments was the need of the hour to control the ethnic violence in...

Imphal, April 6: The United Liberation Front of Manipur (UNLF) today said it was protecting the Bengalis of Jiribam from a ?terrorist organisation? and also denied issuing any quit notices to the community.

Reacting to a report published today under the headline ?UNLF diktat prompts exodus, villagers flee Manipur sub-division?, the outfit said it has ?neither issued any quit notice nor imposed any tax on the Bengali community settled in Jiribam?.

?On the contrary, it is the UNLF that has been protecting the minority communities in Jiribam, including the Bengalis, from the relentless...

Silchar, April 5: The ethnic violence sweeping across Assam?s Cachar and North Cachar Hills districts have spilled over to the adjacent Jiribam subdivision in Manipur.

More than 130 people belonging to the Bengali community have fled from Jiribam to Lakhipur in Cachar following relentless persecution by the United National Liberation Front (UNLF).

Official sources in Lakhipur today said these people left their home and hearths yesterday to escape the wrath of the UNLF militants, who have been constantly demanding ?taxes? from the villagers.

The people, mostly from Chhotebekra, Badebaekra...