Imphal, May 22 : The Tangkhuls in Manipur today petitioned New Delhi and the governments of Manipur and Nagaland to put an end to reported persecution of members of the community in Dimapur.
“Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the governments of Okram Ibobi Singh and Neiphiu Rio should immediately intervene to save the Tangkhuls in Dimapur and ensure their safety,” the president of the Tangkhul Naga Long, Stephen Angkang, said.
The apex body of the Tangkhuls who are concentrated in Manipur’s Ukhrul district, today made the fervent appeal after members of the community were being targeted following the clash between the Isak-Muivah and the Unification factions of the NSCN on Friday that claimed the lives of 14 rebels and two civilians.
Sources said after the mayhem, the Tangkhul students in Dimapur have asked their families to come and take them home.
“Unable to move out, our students in Dimapur have requested their families in Ukhrul to fetch them. We have asked the Nagaland Students’ Federation in Kohima to ensure their safety. For the time being, we want them to return to Ukhrul safely with security escorts,” Angkang said.
The tribal leader also appealed to the two state governments to provide the Tangkhul students in the Nagaland maximum protection.
Though the exact number of Tangkhul students in Dimapur is not known, a large number of them is studying in various schools and colleges. There are also many permanent Tangkhul settlers besides family members of NSCN (I-M) leaders in Dimapur. The NSCN (I-M) general secretary, Th. Muivah, is a Tangkhul Naga.
Angkang confirmed that some Tangkhul students had fled Dimapur and reached Ukhrul in the wake of Friday’s violence.
“Yes, some have arrived here in the past few days. But they are small in number and we are yet to organise a headcount of those coming here from Dimapur.”
The Tangkhuls in Manipur fear more clashes and attacks on members of their community in Nagaland. “Some vested interests could take advantage of the situation and foment trouble. The authorities should take every possible step so that innocent civilians are not targeted,” Angkang said.
The Tangkhul organisation has appealed to citizens’ groups of Nagaland, the Naga Hoho and the Church to ensure that civilians are not targeted in factional clashes.
“We appeal to all concerned that no one should target civilians during factional clashes between armed groups,” Angkang said.
The Tangkhul Naga Long is consulting elders of the community to find a way out to ensure safety of the members of the community in Nagaland.
Narrow escape
Suspected militants left behind two gas cylinders that were likely to explode at the gate of Manipur’s agriculture and social welfare minister N. Loken Singh’s Leimaqpokpam home in Bishnupur district last night, reports our correspondent from Imphal.
Police said when residents of Leimapokpam smelled cooking gas at midnight, they enquired and found two cylinders, with gas oozing out of them near the gate of the minister’s private home.
The villagers also found a small rope measuring about 10 feet each tied to the regulators and those who tried to explode it thought of using the ropes as the trigger by burning it. However, villagers found that the ropes did not burn.
The villagers immediately informed the matter to the Nambol police station. Police recovered the cylinders this morning. The minister was not present at his home last night, neither was not available for comment. However, a family member informed the police that villagers saw two persons carrying gas cylinders at around 10pm in the village.
Police and the family members of the minister do not have any clue to the motive and identities of those who had left those cylinders behind.
Telegraph India
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