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No more blockades
- The Naga groups ended the 100-day blockade with the threat of another one, if the government made any move in favour of a competing territorial demand by the Kukis.
- The Kukis are demanding a separate district in an area of Manipur that the Nagas claim as part of their ‘Nagalim' demand.
- Meanwhile, the Kukis have threatened to carry out their own blockade if the promise of a district for them, contained in a written assurance from Chief Minister Ibobi Singh, does not materialise.
- The resolution of ethnic territorial demands in Manipur is inextricably linked to the Centre's negotiations with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah), a process so opaque since it began in 1997 that it has added much to the suspicions and tensions between the ethnic groups in the region.
- a bomb explosion in Imphal on Wednesday that killed one person underline the fact that Manipur is one of the most troubled States in that region today, given its ethnic tensions and a host of insurgencies, run by shadowy militant groups that are little more than criminal gangs.
- Prime Minister Singh's December 3 visit is an opportunity to demonstrate renewed focus on Manipur.
- He must send a clear message that the politics of blackmail, whether through blockades or bombs, will not be allowed to succeed
- The Meeteis or Meiteis are the majority ethnic group of Manipur, India, and because of this are sometimes referred to as Manipuris.
- Meiteis occupies only 10% of the total geographical areas of the present day Manipur State. It is situated in the far Eastern part of India
- whereas the Nagas and Kukis dominate the hilly areas which form the rest 90 % of the land
