Naga blockade lifted; Prayers called for 'lasting' peace

The Naga-Manipuri standoff has finally come to an end, thanks to the prayers and intervention of Church.

The Naga Students' Federation (NSF) has agreed to temporarily lift a more than two-month long economic blockade that crippled normal life due to severe shortage of food, fuel and medicines.

Naga groups residing in Manipur enforced an indefinite economic blockade on May 6 after the state government refused permission to Naga separatist leader Thuingaleng Muivah to visit his ancestral village in Manipur's Ukhrul district.

"We are temporarily suspending the economic blockade following personal requests by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after we met him in New Delhi," Naga Students Federation (NSF) president Mutsiikhoyo Yhobu said Tuesday.

Union Secretary GK Pillai has invited Chief Secretaries of Nagaland and Manipur for an emergency meeting in Delhi on Wednesday to discuss the steps to be taken by the two state governments

The Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to deploy additional paramilitary forces to remove the blockade and keep the highway open for free movement of traffic and goods.

Over three million residents in the remote state is said to have suffered immense hardship during the blockade.

Churches had organised prayers and some Christian delegations also held dialogues with Naga student groups requesting to lift the blockade.

However, although now the blockade has been removed, prayers must still continue for a lasting peace and harmony.

In a statement released Tuesday, All Manipur Church Association (AMCO) appealed to churches irrespective of denominations to continue praying for consistent peace in the region.

AMCO also suggested that one must shun selfishness, greed, hypocrisy, revengeful spirit, communalism and unforgiveness, and work for the interest of others and not oneself.