Dimapur, January 5 (MExN): In his efforts to enable smooth transition to Presidents Rule in Nagaland, the Governor, K. Sankaranarayanan reiterated that security for the people and maintenance of law and order are his top priorities. Addressing senior police and paramilitary officers at a Security Coordination meeting today at Kohima, the Governor, who is now in-charge of the state of affairs clarified for the ‘fourth time’ that “we are having Presidents Rule in Nagaland. President’s rule is not ‘army rule.’ It is civil rule.”
While seeking the support, cooperation and good effort from the officers to achieve the “long cherished dream of peace” in Nagaland, the governor emphasized on the need to ensure that ‘citizens feel secure’ and to prevent acts of violence. “All agencies must be put on high alert and ensure prompt action in order to instill confidence amongst people with regard to enforcement of Rule of Law,” he stated.
The governor pointed out that “the entire responsibility of administration and law and order is shared between state government civil and police officers with the governor.” He urged the police and paramilitary officers and forces to work effectively to the best of their abilities in order to enable security for the people.
Informing that Nagaland is ‘due for elections soon,’ he stated that “till such time we will have various political parties making statements and criticizing each other. Healthy criticism is the essence of a democratic system and it is good.” “It is our responsibility to ensure law and order. We have to ensure that our intelligence machinery is geared up,” he stated.
The governor said the Rule of Law must be upheld in all spheres of life, to ensure law and order. He called for prompt and effective action whenever situations arose and reminded the officers that the prime role must be played by police officers and jawans. The governor reminded that officers must conduct themselves with honor and to ensure that there is ‘no harassment of anyone.’
The governor directed the Director General of Police (DGP) “to issue directions to all senior police officers that in case any law and order situation arises, they should promptly visit the place of occurrence and personally supervise investigations and follow up action.” He further cautioned that “any laxity on this part on behalf of senior officers will not be tolerated.”
The governor said that all police functionaries at all levels of rank must be available for the people in their respective places of posting. He emphasized that they “must be polite and courteous to the people and should try to help out people in ensuring rule of law.”
Stating that the peace process has been ongoing for the last ten years and that the “ceasefire between NSCN factions and Government of India is on and negotiations are going on” the governor said that this has ‘brought lots of hope amongst the people’ and that there has been a ‘drastic drop’ in the number of killings from 1997 to 2007. He however cautioned that the major problem now lay with the ‘inter-factional clashes.’
In this regard he said that the process initiated by civil society, NGOs and forums like that of GB and DB Association needs to be strengthened to ensure that these clashes do not take place.
To ensure better inter-agency cooperation, the governor advised that intelligence collection agencies must work in “close coordination and share vital intelligence with each other and take effective action to prevent any potential threats to law and order.” Another crucial area pointed out by the Governor was the need to maintain discipline at the check gates by the police forces. He pointed out that there was “also a need for smooth coordination and understanding amongst the State Police, CRPF and Assam Rifles formations as you all will be required to work in tandem for the conduct of State Elections.”
