Manipur to implement all provisions of tripartite pact with Kuki militants

Imphal, Sep 5 (IANS) Manipur government would implement all provisions of the tripartite agreement with Kuki militants extending the Suspension of Operations (SoO) for another year, Chief Secretary Puneet Kumar Goel said here on Friday.

The Chief Secretary said that all provisions outlined in the SoO agreement signed on Thursday in New Delhi between the Centre, the state government and armed Kuki groups would be implemented.

“The government’s main focus remains on restoring peace and normalcy in Manipur,” Goel told the media on the sidelines of the state-level teachers’ day function in Imphal.

Responding to a question on the reopening of the Imphal-Dimapur National Highway (NH-2), one of the lifelines of Manipur, the Chief Secretary said the agreement signed on Thursday (September 4) would be implemented in letter and spirit.

On the demand by the Kuki Zo Council to strictly enforce buffer zones between Meitei and Kuki-Zo areas, Goel reiterated that the government is committed to honouring every clause of the tripartite accord.

A senior official said that the tripartite SoO agreement with the Kuki militant groups has also been extended for one more year after a tripartite meeting between the officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the Manipur government, and leaders of the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and the United People’s Front (UPF).

After a series of meetings between officials of the MHA, the Manipur government and the leaders of Kuki-Zo Council (KZC), the KZC has committed to cooperate with security forces deployed by the government of India to maintain peace along NH-2, an official statement had said.

It said: "The meeting concluded with the signing of a tripartite SoO agreement on re-negotiated terms and conditions (ground rules) to be effective from the day of signing of the Agreement for a period of one year."

Among other provisions, the revised ground rules reiterated the territorial integrity of Manipur and the need for a negotiated solution to bring lasting peace and stability to the state.

According to the statement, the KNO and UPF have also agreed to relocate seven designated camps away from areas vulnerable to conflict, reduce the number of designated camps, relocate the weapons to the nearest CRPF and BSF camps, ensure stringent physical verification of cadres by security forces to de-list foreign nationals, if any.

A Joint Monitoring Group would henceforth closely monitor enforcement of ground rules, and violations will be dealt with firmly in future, including review of the SoO Agreement, the statement had said.

The UPF and the KNO, which are a conglomerate of 24 underground outfits, signed an SoO with the government on August 22, 2008, and 2,266 cadres of the militant outfits have been staying in different designated camps in Manipur’s hill regions.

The state's majority Meitei community, however, has been opposing any extension of the SoO agreement with the Kuki militant outfits.

--IANS

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