Time to demand content of ‘Framework Agreement’ to be made public: UCM

By A Staff Reporter

IMPHAL | Oct 23

President of United Committee Manipur (UCM), E. Johnson said Manipur is not for one ethnic group alone. There can be no compromise on the matter of territorial integrity of the state, and if in case it is compromised another ‘June Uprising’ is in the offing, he added.

Johnson was speaking at a press meet held today at the head office of UCM located at Lamphel. He said content of the ‘Framework Agreement’ which was signed between the Central government and Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagalim, NSCN- IM on August 3, 2015, still remains a mystery.

Johnson said according to a reliable source it is said that the content of the agreement will be released by the end of this year. Before the conclusion is made chief minister of Assam, Sarbananda Sonowal has already taken precaution and had claimed a single inch of Assam will not be compromised, he said.

Likewise the state government of Manipur had also assured that it will not compromise a single inch of land and a consultative committee has also been made regarding the issue of state integrity, he added.

Johnson asserted that the agreement must not include a single internal issue of Manipur. He recalled that the famous June 18 occurred due to the cease fire agreement signed between NSCN-IM and central government on Naga inhabited area without the consent of state government.

All the chief ministers of the Northeast need to cooperate and time has come to pressure the Central government on the issue of revealing the content of the Framework Agreement and an assurance that it will not affect the boundary of any of the states. 

He said people of the state and civil bodies have to cooperate immediately, in order to take precautionary measures against any possible compromises on the territorial integrity of Manipur.

Johnson also pointed out that it is not time for the political parties to lie dormant. The civil bodies, political leaders need to stand together firmly and must give pressure to the Central government and demand the content of the agreement, he continued.

On the issue of bifurcation of the state, UCM strongly condemned the demand of United People’s Front and Kuki National Organisation for demanding a hill state apart from Manipur. The two groups have been under suspension of operation since 2013 and they are demanding to dismantle the beautiful ethnic groups of Manipur, he lamented.

He said Kuki organisation civil bodies should not to take any unwanted steps against the state integrity. To bring peace and welfare for the state all the ethnic groups must work jointly, Johnson added.