Manipur may extend ceasefire with militant outfits

Manipur may extend ceasefire with militant outfits
AJAY SURI

NEW DELHI, MARCH 26: With the Union Home Ministry watching from the sidelines, the Manipur government is readying itself for another go at its own unilateral ceasefire with the 17-odd militant outfits of the state.

Chief Minister Radhabinod Koijam has called an all-party meeting in Imphal tomorrow to see if the ceasefire can be extended by another month after March 29.

If North Block finds itself more of a spectator than an active participator in Manipur affairs, the ruckus in Parliament last week deprived it of an attempt to reassert its importance in the ongoing peace efforts in the North-east. Union Home Minister L.K. Advani, sources disclosed, was all set to announce an extension of the Centre's ceasefire in Nagaland with the Khaplang faction of the NSCN. But the non-stop din in both the Houses prevented him from making the important statement.

Officials say that the Home Ministry may not be directly involved in the peace negotiations with the militants but it's keeping an eye on the goings-on.

Just days after assuming the Chief Minister's office, Koizam made known his willingness to pursue the path of talks, when he said: ``I don't believe the insurgency can be solved through the barrel of a gun, whether of the state police or the Army. Peace, I believe, can be brought through peaceful means. Through negotiations.''

Making a case for ceasefire in the entire north-eastern region, Koijam has has urged both Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee and Advani to assess the result of Manipur's peace initiative with its own home-grown militants. So far, though, mum is the word from North and South block.

Koijam had taken everybody -- including Advani -- by surprise when he announced the ceasefire in his very first Cabinet meeting last month.

The situation in the state may still be far from normal (a number of terror-struck IAS officers have yet to move out of Imphal to join their ``unsafe'' outposts from where they fled months ago), but Manipur officials claim there is a marked drop in the crime rate in the state ever since the exit of Nipamacha Singh's government.