Newmai News Network Senapati I July 21 Much to the disappointment of the United Naga Council (UNC), the tripartite talks on the district creation have been postponed, again. The talks involving the United Naga Council (UNC), Government of India (GoI) and the Government of Manipur (GoM) were scheduled to be held on July 22 in Senapati district headquarters at the 'political level' but the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has “fervently requested” the UNC leaders to have the talks early next month. Speaking to Newmai News Network this evening over phone, Satyendra Garg, Joint Secretary, MHA said that the GoM had “requested” the former if the date of the talks could be scheduled for July 23 instead of July 22. According to Garg, the State Government had conveyed that its cabinet ministers assigned to take part in the talks would not be able to skip the ongoing session of the Manipur Legislative Assembly on Saturday. To this, the UNC had agreed even to hold the talks even on Sunday but the proposal of the State Government gives inconveniences to the MHA officials participating in the tripartite talks. According to the Joint Secretary, the Union Home Minister is taking part in the Question Hour of the ongoing Parliament Session on July 24, for which it has become a matter of compulsion that all the MHA officials are stationed from Sunday. Now, things have come to such a situation that the next tripartite talks have been tentatively scheduled either on August 5 or August 11, according to Garg. He also said that the Government of India “takes seriously” on the tripartite talks and hoped that things should be "alright for everyone in the early part of next month.” It can be noted here that the tripartite talks on district creation issue which were scheduled earlier for July 10 at Ukhrul district headquarters were postponed, and the talks were latter fixed for July 22 with Senapati district headquarters as the venue. Apparently reacting to the prolonging of the tripartite talks the UNC has expressed its frustration today again. Today, UNC President Gaidon Kamei reiterated that Naga people in Manipur "to remain alert to face any eventuality”. Earlier, the UNC had alleged that a party engaging in the tripartite talks was intentionally trying to sabotage the ongoing dialogue on district creation issue. On May 19, the representatives of GoM, GoI and UNC had agreed upon to hold tripartite talks on the district creation issue at the political level within a month’s time. The one month’s time frame to hold tripartite talks on the district creation issue had lapsed on June 19.
