Naga students target Manipur Bhavan over Muivah visit

NEW DELHI - Around 300 Naga students and activists pelted stones at Manipur Bhavan in the national capital Friday evening and tried to storm it to protest the Manipur government’s refusal to allow Naga separatist leader T. Muivah to visit the state.

“Around 300 of them arrived in buses. They were carrying stones and attempted to storm Manipur Bhavan. Some vehicles and windowpanes have been damaged in the stone pelting. But no one has been injured,” Shambhu Singh, Manipur government’s Resident Commissioner here, told IANS.

The situation was brought under control after additional forces were rushed to the site, Singh said.

The students also raised slogans against Manipur Chief Minister O. Ibobi Singh for not allowing Muivah to visit his ancestral village of Somdal in Ukhrul district in northern Manipur.

According to the police, traffic near the Bhavan, situated on Sardar Patel Marg near the Taj Palace hotel, was disrupted for more than an hour.

Over 300 policemen surrounded the area to prevent further trouble.

“There was heavy brick-batting, but no one was injured. No one has been arrested or detained. We are investigating the matter,” Shankar Das, deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi), told IANS.

According to a traffic police official: “The protest led to a major traffic jam in the area.”

Rajni Singh, an HR professional, said she was stuck in the jam for more than an hour. “The traffic jam spilled to the entire Chanakyapuri area, causing immense problems,” she said.

Marketing executive Mohan Rathore said he had some urgent work in Connaught Place but was stuck in the traffic for over two hours.

In Manipur’s Senapati district, Nagas blocked the highway by resorting to sit-in protests leading to disruption in road communication between Manipur and the rest of the country.

The Manipur government maintains the ceasefire with the NSCN-IM does not extend beyond Nagaland and hence Muivah’s visit to Manipur was not acceptable.

The NSCN-IM has demanded that all Naga-inhabited areas of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh in the northeast be integrated with Nagaland to unite 1.2 million Nagas and create a Greater Nagaland.

The demand is strongly opposed by the states of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.

“I will surely visit by birthplace,” Muivah told journalists Friday.

Six independent legislators, all tribal Nagas, resigned Thursday from the Manipur assembly protesting the state government’s decision to bar Muivah’s visit to his birthplace.