Amid the uncertainty over final talks between the NSCN(IM) and the central government, a leading citizens’ platform in Manipur has appealed people to take to streets on October 31 to express solidarity with the demand for protection of state’s territorial integrity.
“The call to the people of Manipur to suspend their normal activities on October 31 is aimed at making them part of a mass movement against forces inimical to Manipur. We want the people to stand together in determining their future or the future of their state,” said Coordination Committee of Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) coordinator Sunil Karam.
He said the COCOMI wanted people stay on streets from 4 am to midnight.
The people in Manipur fear that the success of the government-NSCN(IM) talks might affect the territorial integrity of Manipur, which has a sizable population of Naga tribes in some districts.
The Centre-NSCN(IM) talks have entered the final leg with the government trying to hammer out a solution to the six-decade-old issue by October 31.
Though several Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, have assured that Manipur’s territorial integrity would not be affected, it has failed to convince the people.
Of late, Manipur has witnessed several protests by civil society organisations, demanding that the Centre-NSCN(IM) deal should not affect the state.
Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh recently said, he, his cabinet colleagues and the BJP legislators would resign if the territorial integrity was compromised, in the final agreement over Naga issue. (IANS)