Manipur asks MHA to remove ‘unauthorised’ NSCN (IM) camps

Imphal, May 19 (PTI): The Manipur government has urged the Union home ministry to shift “unauthorised” NSCN (IM) camps to Nagaland, following alleged distribution of relief materials by civil society organisations to cadres of the insurgent group lodged in two such camps, a top official said.

Chief Secretary J Suresh Babu, in a letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs, highlighted the matter after a “large number of civil society organisations…were openly invited to these camps”.

The controversy over the presence of the “unauthorised” camps of the NSCN (IM) surfaced recently when members of civil society organisations were seen extending relief materials to the cadres at the Huthrong Brigade Camp in Senapati district and the Ashiho Chaomai Battalion in Chandel district of Manipur on May 8 and May 13 respectively.

Videos of the distribution of relief materials were shared on social media, “causing embarrassment to the state government”, the letter said.

It mentioned that central security forces, which are overseeing these camps, “have also failed to restrain” them from illegal activities.

“The recent developments of frequent visits of civil society organisations to these locations could have been prevented,” the state government asserted in the letter.

It also urged the MHA to take serious note of this and direct the Army and the Assam Rifles to control the activities of the NSCN (IM) and also prevent public and civil society organisations from visiting these camps.

“The Ministry of Home Affairs is also requested to direct them to remove the camps from Manipur and relocate in Nagaland,” the letter added.

The Manipur government said the camps existed in the state despite the fact that the “ceasefire agreement does not extend to the state of Manipur”.