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Patil?s talks with Manipur agitators fail
The talks, between Shivraj Patil and leaders of Anuba Lup outfit, failed on Sunday, reports Rahul Karmakar.
The Talks between Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and leaders of the agitation against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Manipur failed on Sunday night. Patil is on a two-day visit to Manipur.
Emerging from the nearly hour-long meeting with Patil at the Raj Bhawan in Imphal, a leader of the Apunba Lup, the apex body of the 32 outfits which called the agitation against the AFSPA, told reporters, "We had only one demand — of withdrawal of the Act — but that has not been accepted."
Earlier in the day, there had been a standoff between the agitators and the government over the arrest of Manipur Students Federation (MSF) president S. Kangleipal on Saturday on the charge of raising anti-national slogans. In response, the MSF had called a bandh on Sunday to coincide with Patil's visit.
Normalcy returned to Imphal around 7.30 p.m. after a harried Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh announced Kangleipal's release. Consequently, the Apunba Lup leaders agreed to meet Patil around 9 p.m.
Shortly before the meeting, members of the Apunba Lup delegation said they would hand over to Patil a list of people who had allegedly disappeared and details of custodial killings and tortures.
Meanwhile, Ibobi Singh ruled out withdrawal of the AFSPA from the entire state, saying extortion still continued and there was no normalcy. "At this time, it is not possible to withdraw the Act from the entire state,” he said.
