'NSCN-IM indulging in violence despite peace talks'

Sending a clear message that violence does not pay, home minister P Chidambaram has accused Naga insurgent group NSCN-IM of indulging in kidnapping and other unlawful activities despite holding peace talks with the government.

Sending a clear message that violence does not pay, home minister P Chidambaram has accused Naga insurgent group NSCN-IM of indulging in kidnapping and other unlawful activities despite holding peace talks with the government.

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Chidambaram also said security forces continue to be deployed in Manipur to ensure safety and security of Electronic Voting Machines(EVMs), polling personnel and the candidates.

"NSCN-IM is in talks with the Government of India. There is an interlocutor. But it is also true that NSCN-IM cadres along with some other organisations continue to indulge in kidnapping and some time violence," he told reporters in Delhi Tuesday evening.

Condemning the recent violence perpetrated allegedly by NSCN-IM cadres, the home minister said though NSCN-IM leadership denied that their cadres were involved in most of these incidents, the government has enough intelligence which suggested that the insurgent group's cadres were behind many of these incidents.

"I hope that the message will go to the NSCN-IM or any other group that violence does not pay," he said.

"But please remember, except for that incident and at the very beginning, when I think two Assam Rifles people were killed, by and large this election in Manipur has been violence-free," he said.