Guwahati: The upcoming visit of Union home minister Amit Shah to Manipur on December 27 has kindled a ray of hope in the stakeholders of the Centre’s peace talks with the two insurgent groups – United People’s Front (UPF) and the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) – for an early resumption of the discussion.
The Zomi Council, the apex body of nine Zomi tribes residing in the northeastern state with their headquarters in the border town of Churachandpur (Lamka), has urged Shah to “expedite” the peace process “for an honourable political solution” by resuming the dialogue between the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the representatives of the two groups.
The talks with more than 20 insurgent groups under the umbrella of UPF and KNO was begun by the Narendra Modi government in 2017 with considerable zest and promise to arrive at a speedy permanent peace – coinciding with the assembly elections in Manipur.
Since then, the Centre’s interlocutor changed twice. The tenure of the present interlocutor, A.B. Mathur, stands expired now but the MHA is yet to give him an extension to resume the talks. With the last discussion between the representatives of the groups and the Centre held on June 25, 2019, the talks have remained stalled for over one and a half years now.
The ceasefire agreement between the MHA and these armed groups expired too, leading to the usual practice of extending it by another six months on August 2020. The suspension of operation (SOO) deadline with these groups would expire on February 20, 2022.
On December 22, a delegation of Zomi Council met officials at the ministry in New Delhi to submit an application for granting extension to Mathur. A member of the delegation told The Wire, “The talks have been going very slow.”
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He said, “We appreciate the development work in Manipur by the Centre; for example, the work has begun on the national highway 102 B, as per the demand of the people of Lamka (Churachandpur). The double lane highway will help connect our area to Mizoram. But we also want the peace talks to lead to a permanent solution at the earliest for which Mathur’s extension must be granted. We are told at the ministry that the process is going on.”
“We also hope that Shah meets the representatives of the peace talks during his Imphal visit and he gives the people the hope for an early resumption of the discussion to arrive at an honourable solution,” he added.
In a press note on December 22, the Zomi Council appreciated the Modi government for appointing an interlocutor to start the peace talks but reminded the Centre, “The political demand for creation of an autonomous hill state in Manipur was laid out to P. Chidambaram, the former Union minister (during the UPA regime), during his visit at (to) Muvanlai designated camp (set up by the Union home ministry for the cadres of the armed groups) of ZRO/ZRA (These groups are under the umbrella of UPF) on December 15, 2010.”
The note added, “And in the process of seeking an amicable and honourable political solution under the NDA ministry, the political agenda evolves into territorial council modelled along the Bodo Territorial Council (in Assam) based on the sixth schedule (of the Constitution) as an initial step, and as proposed and promised to the leadership of ZRO/ZRA (UPF) by Rajnath Singh, the then Union home minister, in March 2, 2017, during his visit to Churachandpur, Manipur.”
The 2017 promise made by the BJP government at the Centre to these influential groups had helped the party win a couple of seats in an otherwise Congress bastion to scale up its tally in the assembly polls, and eventually form a government for the first time in Manipur.