JIC report on Tuensang returnees' issue: ENLU-ENPO meet fails to make headway

Pangnyu Phom says meeting was ‘inconclusive’; ENPO insists its issue is with state government, not ENLU

Our Correspondent 
Kohima, June 20 (EMN): No breakthrough was achieved in the meeting held on Saturday between legislators from the eastern districts of Nagaland and representatives of Eastern Nagaland People's Organisation (ENPO) to discuss the recommendations of the Judicial Inquiry Committee (JIC) report on Tuensang returnees' issue.

Nagaland Cabinet had, on June 19, assigned the Eastern Nagaland Legislators' Union (ENLU) to meet the ENPO leaders.   

The president of ENLU and minister for Health and Family Welfare, S Pangnyu Phom, informed journalists that the meeting, held in Kohima, was 'inconclusive'.

"They have asked for some more time so that they (ENPO) will meet their own tribe hoho leaders and after that they will come to the government; that's what they have suggested," Phom said.

When queried about the findings and recommendations of the JIC, the minister said that it was a confidential report and could not be disclosed until the government takes a decision.

Phom maintained that the JIC report also could not be discussed in detail as the meeting was ‘inconclusive’.

Meanwhile, the president of ENPO, Kekonchim Yimchunger, said that "the issue is not between ENPO and ENLU. The issue is between ENPO and the government, so no decision has been taken".

He informed that ENPO would be meeting with its ‘frontal organisation, tribe hohos, and advisors’ on Tuesday (June 23), adding that "any decision will be taken only on Tuesday”.

"The issue has to be discussed between government of Nagaland and ENPO," he asserted.

When asked if the ENPO stands by its demand submitted earlier to the state government, Yimchunger replied in the affirmative.

Among others, the ENPO had demanded immediate suspension of the official involved in the sending of Tuensang-bound returnees from Kohima, in breach of the government’s standard operating procedure.