Allegation of ceasefire ground rules violation
Morung Express News
November 16
DIMAPUR: Despite the Ceasefire Ground Rules clearly stipulating that there would be no blockade of roads and communications, disruption of economic or developmental activities as well as essential services by the NSCN (IM), the economic blockade being enforced at Noklak since the last one month continues with no sign of it being lifted in spite of the appeals made by various church bodies including the NBCC.
According to information received, the NBCC had tried to meet the outfit’s Kilo Kilonser but he was reportedly unavailable or out of station. An informal meeting with lower rank officials of the GPRN did not bear much fruit, NBCC sources told The Morung Express. The GPRN officials reportedly did not have the authority to deal with the matter as it was outside their purview.
There were also unconfirmed reports that even the NSCN (IM) civil authorities had no knowledge about the blockade being enforced at Noklak. Some of them when contacted were completely unaware of the blockade. “The army unit of the NSCN (IM) is enforcing the blockade and this also is being done unofficially without the knowledge of the higher ups”, a source in Tuensang on condition of anonymity told this paper.
According to sources the NSCN (IM) and those enforcing the blockade are reportedly demanding payment of house tax from the 1500 odd households in Noklak which has not been paid for the last eight years. The outstanding amount accumulated over the last eight years and which the NSCN (IM) is demanding from the Noklak residents is reportedly around Rs 14-15 lakhs. People from the region whom The Morung Express spoke to said that they had no knowledge about the NSCN (IM) demanding tax dues.
Khiamniungam leaders based in Tuensang however said that the economic blockade was being enforced by the NSCN (IM) after their ‘failure’ to ‘penetrate’ Noklak region which is acknowledged as a stronghold of the FGN. “The economic blockade is a desperate measure on the part of the NSCN (IM) who are bent on harassing the innocent public for no fault of theirs”, a source remarked while also alleging that the State administration in the region was least bothered about the blockade and cautioned that once the situation went out of hand more problems will be created.
At the time of filing this report, there were no clear reports about the economic plight of people inside Noklak. According to a reliable source there are about 20 general provision shops selling essential commodities. “But since the blockade has been going on for the last one month, the essential items may have already been exhausted”, the source said.
Chairman of the Ceasefire Monitoring Group Lt Gen (Retd) RV Kulkarni and senior NSCN (IM) officials could not be contacted at the time of filing this report.
