Naga blockade lifted, but trucks yet to reach Manipur

IMPHAL - Trucks carrying essentials to Manipur were yet to roll into the state Wednesday, a day after the apex Naga tribal students’ group lifted a more than two-month long economic blockade, officials said.

“It might take a couple of more days for trucks to ply normally on the highway,” Manipur government spokesperson and senior minister N. Biren Singh told IANS.

Meanwhile, 20 companies (estimated 2,000 personnel) of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Border Security Force (BSF), posted in various places in Manipur, have now been deployed along National Highways 39 and 53 to escort trucks into the state.

“Modalities about troop deployment along the highways are being worked out,” the minister said.

The Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) Tuesday lifted the blockade. “We have decided to temporarily suspend the blockade following requests from the prime minister whom we met Monday in New Delhi,” NSF president Mutsiikhoyo Yhobu said.

Several Naga tribal groups have blocked the main highway into Manipur state since April 11 to protest a government decision preventing separatist leader, Thuingaleng Muivah, from visiting his birthplace.

The two-month blockade of main roads has led to severe shortages of food and medical supplies and soaring prices.

Landlocked Manipur depends on supplies from outside the region with trucks from the rest of India carrying essentials passing through Nagaland.

The chief secretaries of Nagaland and Manipur are holding a meeting with union Home Secretary G.K. Pillai in New Delhi. “The meeting is being convened to discuss modalities for providing security to escort trucks carrying essentials into Manipur,” the minister said.