Muivah’s visit has nothing to do with Nagalim demand, says NSU

The Naga Students Union, spearheading the blockade of Manipur since early April on Saturday claimed that NSCN (IM) General Secretary Th. Muivah’s visit to Somdal, his native village in Manipur’s Ukhrul district, did not have any connection with the outfit’s demand for ‘Greater Nagalim’.

“We ask the Government of India whether everybody has the right to visit his or her native village. What is the law which prohibits Muivah from visiting his ancestral village?” a four-member NSF delegation led by its adviser Elu Nadang told reporters here on Saturday.

The Naga student leaders also alleged that while the media blamed them for the Manipur blockade, they should also know that the Manipur government had created ‘obstacles’ for the Nagas living in the State.

“The world should know that two Naga students were brutally gunned down by the Manipur Rifles,” they said referring to the May 6 incident at the check gate at Mao on the Manipur-Nagaland border.

They said that normalcy should return and the two neighbouring States of Nagaland and Manipur should find an amicable solution to the current impasse.

The NSF leaders came here at the request of the Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), the Mizo apex student body to mediate between the two student communities.

The MZP leaders told PTI that they would try their best to broker understanding between the two student communities.

“We informed the Naga student leaders that their current blockade has created severe hardship for Mizos living in Manipur,” a MZP leader said.

The blockade was to protest against elections to six autonomous district councils.