Mizoram Govt Expresses Optimism On Indo-Bangla Trade

Aizawl, Jan 21 : Mizoram government on Sunday expressed optimism that the proposed Indo-Bangladesh border trade in the Mizoram sector would soon become a reality after a meeting of ministers of Bangladesh and Mizoram.

Mizoram Trade and Commerce Minister Lalrinliana Sailo and Bangladesh Minister for Chittagong Hill Tracts Dipankar Talukdar held a meeting yesterday on the banks of Khawthlangtuipui or Karnaphuli on Bangladesh side where it was decided to expedite border trade activities and strengthen bilateral ties.

Sailo told PTI over phone from Lunglei that a concrete step had been taken between the two sides in the meeting attended by the Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pankaj Saran and top officials of the Bangladesh government.

The meeting decided to constitute a joint inspection team to oversee the progress of construction of infrastructures at both the border trade centres to be initiated by the Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, he said.

He added that a boat race contest would be organised at the river Khawthlangtuipui on January 31 where people from both south Mizoram’s Lunglei district and Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh would participate.

Consultative Meeting On Hmar Political Issues Held

Rengkai, Jan 19 : A consultative meeting on Hmar political issues in three states - Assam, Manipur and Mizoram was held January 16 at VET, Muolhlum, Rengkai (Churachandpur, Manipur).

Organised by Hmar People’s Convention - Democratic (HPC-D) was attended by various representatives of civil society organisations, village authorities and village chiefs of the Hmar tribals.

HPC-D chairman LT Hmar informed that as invited by the Mizoram government, the HPC(D) and Mizoram government representatives held a meeting to formulate peace talks across the table in December last year.

SIPHRO chairman David Buhril, who was part of the HPC-D delegation that was in negotiation with the Assam government over the Hmar demands in Assam, said HPC-D (Assam Region) signed a SoO with the Assam government last year and four to five meetings had already been held with the Assam government. He further added that another round of talks will be held in February.

United Peoples Front (UPF) convenor Sanga Hmar informed that a number of tripartite preliminary talks between UPF, Central government and Manipur government had been held, and the Home Ministry has accepted the proposal to initiate political talks on the UPF demands.

The meeting endorsed a three-point declaration - that there should be a political talks between HPC(D) and Mizoram government to settle the Hmar political issues in Mizoram; endorsed HPC-D’s demand for a Hmar Autonomous District Council in Assam, and supports the ongoing tripartite talks between the UPF, Manipur government and Central government.

Manipur UCM Welcomes PM’s Assurance

Manipur chief minister Ibobi Singh comes out after meeting Sushil Kumar Shinde in New Delhi on Thursday. Picture by Ramakant Kushwaha

Imphal, Jan 19 : The United Committee, Manipur (UCM), which is spearheading the campaign for safeguarding Manipur’s territorial boundary, welcomed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde’s assurance that settlement of the Naga issue would not disturb Manipur’s integrity.

“We welcome a peace pact with the NSCN (I-M). However, the Centre should come up with a white paper on the progress of the talks and make public the proposed solution to the peace talks. We will not accept any solution that would harm the interest of Manipur’s territorial boundary,” UCM president Y. Nabachandra told The Telegraph today.

A joint political convention led by chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh yesterday met both the Prime Minister and the Union home minister separately in New Delhi.

The delegation comprising leaders of 14 political parties met the central leaders to seek the Centre’s help in arresting NSCN (I-M) cadre R.P. Livingstone in the Momoco molest case.

Ibobi Singh convened an all-party meeting on December 25 and decided to lead the delegation after the Imphal valley went up in flames demanding the arrest of Livingstone, who allegedly molested Manipuri actress Momoco during a concert in Chandel district on December 28.

The delegation, which included deputy chief minister Gaikhangam, also raised the issue of Manipur’s territorial integrity during the meeting.

The delegation raised the state’s boundary issue in view of the Centre’s plan to sign a peace deal with the NSCN (I-M) this year. Sources said the peace talks, which began in 1997, are in the final leg.

After the meeting, Ibobi Singh yesterday said the Prime Minister assured the delegation that the Centre would not compromise on Manipur’s territorial integrity while working out a peace deal with the Naga militant outfit.

There are apprehensions in Manipur of the likely outcome of the peace talks, as the NSCN (I-M) is demanding integration of all Naga-inhabited areas of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh with Nagaland.

The chief minister also said the Union home minister made the same commitment. The delegation, however, maintained that details of the peace talks were not disclosed to the delegation.

“We welcome the Prime Minister and home minister’s assurance of safeguarding Manipur’s boundary. However, the Centre has not disclosed the progress of the talks and likely agreement,” Nabachandra said.

He said the committee and civil society bodies of Manipur were closely monitoring the development in New Delhi with regard to the NSCN (I-M) talks and prepared to face any eventuality on the question of Manipur’s boundary.

The Prime Minister and home minister also assured the delegation that the Centre would do everything to help the Manipur government arrest Livingstone.

The Ibobi Singh government, which announced a cash reward of Rs 5 lakh, believes that Livingstone fled Manipur and is taking shelter at NSCN (I-M)’s Camp Hebron.

Arunachal To Simplify ILP Procedure

Guwahati, Jan 19 : With a view to raising tourist inflow and making the State more tourist-friendly, the Arunachal Pradesh Government is working to simplify the procedure for application and issuance of the Inner Line Permit.

“The ILP has so far not been relaxed. However, the effort of the Government of Arunachal is that it is going to simplify the procedure and lot of Information Technology (IT) intervention is taking place,” Arunachal Pradesh Tourism Secretary Sonam Chombay told reporters here on Friday.

He added, “Within a very short time, online ILP facility would be in place. That will solve a lot of problems of the domestic tourists.”

The ILP is an official travel document issued to Indian citizens who want to visit “protected/restricted areas or States” such as Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram.

It is obligatory for Indian citizens from outside these States to obtain a permit before entering the protected State.

Bajaj Auto Looking To Emerge Market Leader in Northeast

Guwahati, Jan 18 : Bajaj Auto is looking to emerge as the market leader in Northeast India. Presently around 40,000 bikes are sold in Northeast India in a month.

President (motorcycle business) of Bajaj Auto, K. Srinivas who was in Guwahati on Thursday said around 8.6 lakh bikes are sold monthly across the country. "Northeast India is a big market of sports bike and commuter bikes."

He said presently Bajaj auto accounts for 37 percent of bike market of Northeast India. " With our new launches we will emerge market leader here."

Security Tightened At Mizoram Airport

Aizawl, Jan 17 : Security has been beefed up at the Lengpui airport, the lone airport in the north eastern state of Mizoram, near here in view of Republic Day.

State aviation wing officials said that except for the passengers, no one was allowed inside the terminal building even at the departure lounge.

Except for the vehicles belonging to VVIPs and VIPs, no other vehicles were allowed to park and disembark in front of the departure and the arrival, officials said.

The measures would be lifted after the Republic Day functions were over, they added.

Mob Chase Assam Rifles Personnel

Imphal, Jan 17 : A mob in Jiribam chased a team of 22nd battalion Assam Rifles personnel coming to hand over an arrested person to Manipur Police who the local people claimed was an innocent civilian, police said today.

Police burst tear gas shells to disperse the mob. No injuries were reported during the incident. Enraged locals of Jiribam town near Assam, about 222 km west of here, chased Assam Rifles personnel in their vehicles while they were coming to hand over Moirangthem Bijen (40) whom they had picked up for questioning on Monday from Jiribam yesterday.

The mob stopped the vehicles and dragged out Bijen who was allegedly severely beaten up while in custody of the Assam Rifles personnel, official sources said.

The local people then turned on Assam Rifles personnel and became violent, sources said adding that police burst tear gas shells to disperse the mob but no one was injured.

Since the situation became tense, the additional deputy commissioner of Jiribam Y Iboyaima and additional  superintendent of police O Major rushed to the spot and held
talks with the local public leaders, official reports from Jiribam said adding that the enraged people were later dispersed by the police.

Shops and markets were closed for several hours yesterday due to the incident, reports said. Meanwhile, Bijen was taken to Jiribam government hospital where his condition remained serious, sources said.

Mizoram Wants Ceasefire With HPC-D Before Chalfilh Bypoll

Aizawl, Jan 16 : Close on the heels of Election Commission's announcement to hold by-election to the Chalfilh assembly constituency on February 23, the Mizoram government is pushing for early resumption of talks with the Manipur-based Hmar People's Convention - Democrats (HPC-D).

Officials said the Lal Thanhawla-led Congress government was keen on signing Suspension of Operations (SoO) pact with the Hmar outfit within this month. "The government wanted expeditious resumption of the parleys initiated at Silchar in Assam on December 13 last year," an official said. He added that a large number of the Chalfilh electorate belonged to the Hmar community and would be highly influenced by the diktats of the HPC-D leadership.

A plethora of things have happened since the Mizoram government signed SoO with the Hmar militant group on November 11, 2010 in Aizawl. The 2010 SoO, which expired six months later, was never renewed and no effort was made to resume negotiations as both the parties were at loggerheads over some issue or the other.

The HPC-D's direction to all branches of the Young Mizo Association (YMA), the most powerful organisation of the Mizos within the "Hmar-inhabited area" to dissolve themselves last year, was the last nail in the coffin of the rickety honeymoon-like relationship between the two parties.

State home minister R Lalzirliana made a big gamble and acted after the Hmar outfit targeted the YMA by arresting Lalropuia and Biaknunga, self-styled army chief and deputy army chief respectively of the militant outfit on June 10, 2012, from Silchar Airport, soon after he arrived from Imphal.

The state police again arrested H Zosangbera, the chairman of the outfit, who also boarded an aircraft in Imphal from the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on July 17, 2012.

While the state administration might have felt proud, the drawbacks came when no candidate, irrespective of party affiliations, filed nomination for the elections to the village councils in the 15 villages dominated by the Hmar community adjoining Manipur state.

Despite repeated postponement of the last date of filing nomination and even the date of the polls, the state election commission was forced to permanently postpone the local body elections in October last year as no one, including the ruling Congress local leaders, came forward to contest the polls.

Was it the fear of bullets that the people of the area ditched the ballots or is it that the militant outfit has the mandate of people to the extent that everyone obeyed the "appeal" of HPC-D. The answer will be out after the bypoll results are declared on February 28. The government insisted that the HPC-D, which signed SoO with the security forces in Manipur under the supervision of the ministry of home affairs, violated the terms and conditions of the pact. "The Hmar militants moved around with arms while the condition of the SoO required them to deposit arms and stay in designated camps," alleged Lalzirliana.

The HPC-D, meanwhile, accused the state government of arresting its top leaders knowing fully well that they (the leaders) were leaving Manipur to initiate negotiations with both the Centre and the Mizoram government.

It is yet to be seen whether the ruling Congress would soften its stand eyeing not only the bypoll, but also the general assembly elections to be held by the end of the year and whether it would be too late to for Congress to regain the support of the Hmar community which it had during the 2008 assembly polls.