Talks fail to resolve demand for rollback of seven districts in Manipur

The tripartite talks among the Centre, Manipur government and United Naga Council (UNC) held on Friday in Senapati district over the demand for the rollback of the seven districts created in 2016 did not yield any results, officials said.

The UNC has been demanding the rollback of the creation of Kamjong, Pherzawl, Kakching, Kangpokpi, Tengnoupal, Noney and Jiribam. These districts were created during the previous Congress government led by O Ibobi Singh.

"The discussions focussed on the issue of creation of seven districts by the Manipur government in December 2016," a joint statement issued by the representatives of the Centre, state government and the UNC said.

"Representatives of the government of Manipur expressed inability to present a concrete proposal in view of certain difficulties. However, UNC expressed strong exceptions over non-submission of the concrete proposal and insisted that it be submitted in the next rounds of talks," it said.

The meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere and it was mutually agreed that further progress would be made by engaging in a sustained manner in order to resolve the issues politically keeping in view the previous commitments, the statement said.

The next round of talks will be held in the last week of January, it said.