Manipur CM seeks Naga accord details from Centre

Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh on Saturday demanded details of the Naga peace accord signed between the Centre and the NSCN-IM from Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

During a meeting with Rajnath Singh here, Ibobi Singh said the people of Manipur were anxious to know the details of the Naga peace accord and had apprehensions that it would affect the territorial integrity of the state, an official statement said.

R.N. Ravi, the central government's interlocutor for the Naga peace talks, was also present at the meeting held at Rajnath Singh's residence.

The home minister told Ibobi Singh that the accord was just a framework.

"It would not affect the territorial boundary of the neighbouring states of Nagaland. He (Rajnath Singh) further stated that the government of India would invite the state governments for discussion while working out the final shape of the accord," the statement said.

Ibobi Singh later met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence.

Modi assured the Manipur chief minister "that everything would be discussed with the state governments concerned before finalisation of the accord".

During both the meetings, Ibobi Singh presented the existing acts -- Manipur (Village Authority in Hill Areas) Act 1956, Manipur Land Revenues and Land Reforms Act 1960, Manipur (Hill Areas) District Council Act 1971, and Manipur Legislative Committee (Hill Areas Committee) Order 1972 -- passed by parliament for administration of hill areas in Manipur, protection of customary laws, legislative protection of the interests of hill areas and prevention of tribal land alienation.

In a joint press conference on Friday here attended by the chief ministers of three Congress-ruled northeastern states -- Nabam Tuki of Arunachal Pradesh, Tarun Gogoi of Assam, and Ibobi Singh of Manipur -- the Congress charged the Centre with not taking these three states bordering Nagaland into confidence before signing the accord.

All the three states have raised apprehensions about the implications of the accord.

The National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) had demanded that Naga-inhabited areas of the these three states should be brought within the ambit of a 'Greater Nagalim'.

The central government and the NSCN-IM on August 3 signed the historic accord that promises to bring peace in the northeastern state ravaged by violence for over six decades.