Security tightened in NE states after terror outfits call for boycotting I-Day events

Guwahati/Imphal, Aug 14 (IANS) Security has been further tightened in different northeastern states, especially in Assam and Manipur, as militant outfits, including ULFA (Independent) and an apex body of seven militant bodies in Manipur, have called for boycotting Independence Day celebrations on Tuesday.

Police officials in Assam, Manipur and other NE states said the armed police forces and central security forces have intensified their vigil in all the vulnerable and militant-prone areas while all the police stations and police posts have been alerted to maintain a close watch on the situation.

Militant outfits in the northeastern region almost every year give such calls urging people to boycott such celebrations.

Earlier on Saturday, the ULFA (I) led by its self-styled commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah through a statement e-mailed to the media houses asked the people of Assam, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh to boycott Independence Day celebrations on Tuesday.

The ULFA (I) along with a Naga outfit also called for a shut down for 17 hours from the midnight of August 15, keeping emergency services, media and religious activities outside the purview of the general strike.

In Manipur, an apex body of seven militant outfits also gave a call to boycott Independence Day programmes, besides calling for a 17-hour general shutdown on August 15.

In a statement, CorCom, an apex body of banned outlawed groups, said that the political status of Manipur declined abruptly with the "Indian annexation of Manipur on October 15, 1949 by which sovereign Manipur was reduced to just a Chief Commissioner's Province".

“From Part 'C' State in 1950, Manipur was crafted into a Union Territory in 1956. Not only did the Indian colonial rule promulgate the notorious AFSPA, and several other draconian laws in the whole of Manipur, it continued to play a divisive policy among the several ethnic groups intermittently, which has now resulted into wanton ethnic clashes,” the statement read.

The statement added that the 'illegal' Manipur Merger Agreement, 1949 wiped out the sovereign history of Manipur that led to the "imposition of August 15 celebrations among the ethnic groups of Manipur".

The militant outfit under the CorCom include Kangleipak Communist Party, Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup, People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (Prepak), Prepak-Pro, Revolutionary People’s Front, People’s Liberation Army, and United National Liberation Front.

Meanwhile, the combined security forces during the past 24 hours have recovered seven looted arms, seven ammunition and huge quantities of explosives from four Manipur districts -- Imphal East, Imphal West, Thoubal and Bishnupur.