Manipur elections: Economic blockade poses major risk to candidates

A meeting between Home ministry And the United naga Council regarding this has been fixed on February 5

The ministry for Home Affairs has convened an urgent meeting to end the logjam (because of the economic blockade) in Manipur. A meeting of officials of the Home ministry and the United Naga Council has been fixed for February 5.

The meeting has been prioritised since the state is going to polls on March 4. Security officials have raised concerns about the safety of candidates in the wake of this ongoing problem in the state. Intelligence Bureau officials have said that if the problem is not sorted out then it could pose problems for leaders such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi who would be campaigning in the state.

The economic blockade was called by the UNC in November 2016. The same was declared illegal by the ministry for Home Affairs. In fact in view of the volatile security situation the Home ministry had ordered the deployment of 17,500 para military forces in the state.

Based on the various intelligence inputs, the Centre has now decided to hold talks and even rope in state government officials for the same., The state government had blamed the centre stating that the UNC enjoys the support of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah which had signed a peace pact with the Centre in 2015.

OneIndia News