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During the last many years, to be precise from 1997, when the NSCN (IM) entered into a peace pact with New Delhi and started the dialogue to solve the vexed Naga underground movement, integration has become a term that has been bandied about by different communities in Manipur and Nagaland.
To the people of Manipur, integration or integrity of Manipur has come to mean opposing tooth and nail the designs of the NSCN (IM) to establish a Greater Lim by carving out huge portions of Naga inhabited areas in Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh and bringing them under one administrative unit, while to the Naga rebel group and ostensibly to the Nagaland Assembly, integration has come to mean integrating all the Naga inhabited areas under one administrative umbrella.
The opposing view points held by either side cannot be missed by anyone and we are sure it is this demand of a Greater Lim raised by the NSCN (IM) and the equally staunch opposition to any agenda to compromise with the territory of Manipur to work out a solution with the underground organization, that is posing to be the greatest hurdle to chalking out a solution to the decades old movement launched by the Naga rebel group. On December 18, the Nagaland Assembly passed a resolution to demand the integration all Naga inhabited areas under one administrative unit thereby raising the bogey of integration again. This resolution has come about despite the earlier resolutions adopted by the Manipur Assembly to oppose any move to compromise with the territory of the State.
Today the integration question has come to assume political and social implications to such an extent that the relationship between the hill people and the valley people, particularly between the Nagas of Manipur and the Meiteis, has become extremely strained and this is what worries us no end.
The Bangkok Declaration of June 14, 2001 is still fresh in the minds of the people and the mass uprising of the people on June 18, 2001 to oppose the extension of the cease fire between the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India to the soil of Manipur, is today a landmark date in the calendar of the Manipuri people. Eighteen people were killed in the mass uprisings that followed the Bangkok Declaration and for many days, Imphal was under total curfew. Women folks coming out in the night with meiras in their hands defying curfew were stuff that revolutions are made of and realizing the situation at hand, the Centre deleted the phrase, without territorial limits, from the cease fire agreement between the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India.
A number of Naga people fled the valley area in fear of a backlash from the majority Meiteis but it is to the credit of the people of Manipur that no community was ever targeted in the protest against the cease fire extension. This was despite the mischief played by some elements to paint the protest and mass uprising in a communal tone. So far the people of Manipur have shown a positive level of maturity while dealing with the threat posed to the territory of Manipur and we hope and pray that this continues.
We also hope and pray that the Government of Nagaland does not unnecessarily try to whip up passion in the name of bringing all Naga inhabited areas under one administrative unit, for that would mean encouraging the bifurcation of Manipur. Manipur is a land that belongs to different communities not like Nagaland which was carved out solely for the Naga people and this reality should be respected by all concerned, particularly, New Delhi.
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