N-E will be consulted on Peace Accord: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday assured Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh that the North-Eastern States will be consulted during finalisation of the details of the peace accord signed with NSCN(IM) last week. The Manipur Chief Minister as also his Nagaland counterpart TR Zeliang separately met the Prime Minister here during which the issue related to the Naga peace accord was discussed.

“Manipur Chief Minister was informed that everything would be discussed with the State Governments concerned before finalisation of the accord,” a State Government statement said adding Singh, who also called on Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh separately, demanded a copy of the recently signed Naga Peace Accord.

The Union Home Minister, however, replied that the Accord was just a framework and assured that it would not affect the territorial boundary of the neighbouring States of Nagaland. The Home Minister further assured Singh that the Government of India would invite the concerned State Governments for discussion while working out the final shape of the accord.

A similar assurance was given to Zeliang who was accompanied by his Home Minister Y Patton during the meeting with Modi, sources in the StateGovernment said.Pinning “great hopes” in Modi, he said consultations on the accord had been going on for the last two months during which civil society and local groups were consulted. Zeliang heads Nagaland Peoples Front (NFP), an ally of NDA, while Manipur is ruled by Congress.

The Prime Minister’s assurance comes against the backdrop of attack by Congress President Sonia Gandhi on him, saying that North East Chief Ministers were not consulted on the Naga peace accord.The Manipur Chief Minister, along with his counterparts in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, had protested for not having consulted the neighbouring States of Nagaland before signing the initial accord with NSCN-IM on Monday.

In Sonapur, near Guwahati, Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju assured the northeastern States that accord will not affect the interests of other States but slammed the Congress for trying to politicise the issue.“The Chief Ministers of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh have initially welcomed the Naga peace accord but later took a U-turn on the issue. The Chief Ministers of the three States are making contradictory statement on the direction of Sonia Gandhi, which is not a good sign,” said Rijiju while appealing to the Congress not to politicise the issue.

“The interest and sentiments of the northeastern States will not be hurt due to the peace accord,” he assured. Rijiju said this while laying the foundation stone of permanent office campus of the Regional Office of the National Investigating Agency (NIA) at Sonapur.