Isfaqur Rahman

ON July 18, the Assam state units of five Left, democratic and secular parties --- namely, the CPI(M), CPI, RSP, Samajwadi Party and Janata Dal (Secular) --- jointly organised a dharna in the Judges Field, Guwahati, in protest against the centre-NSCN(I-M) accord on ceasefire extension outside Nagaland.

Several hundred activists of these parties joined the sit-in demonstration programme. Prominent among the participants were Hemen Das, Nandeswar Talukdar, Uddhab Barman and Noorul Huda of the CPI(M), Munin Mahanta and Bhugeswar Dutter (CPI), Abdul Muhib Majumdar, Ghulam Ali Akbar (Samajwadi Party), Ramani Burman and Harendra Dev Goswami (JD-S) and Paritosh Chandra of the RSP.

It will be recalled that the union government has entered an agreement with the Naga extremist outfit NSCN(I-M) for extension of ceasefire without any territorial limit. Since the signing of the ceasefire agreement on June 14 last, the north-eastern states, particularly Manipur, have been witnessing violent agitations and protest actions against it. In Assam too, various parties are agitating against this agreement and vehemently opposing the demand for the formation of a "Greater Nagaland" comprising territories of Assam, Manipur and other north-eastern states besides Nagaland.

The July 18 dharna was part of the joint protest action of the Left, democratic and secular parties of Assam against the ceasefire extension.

A brief meeting was also held in the Judges Field. In his speech, CPI(M) state secretary Hemen Das condemned the ceasefire extension and warned against the imperialist conspiracies in the north east. He said ever since independence, imperialists have been hatching conspiracies to disturb peace and territorial integrity in the north east. The demonstrators were also addressed, among others, by Ramani Barman (JD-S), Munin Mahanta (CPI), Alam Ansari (SP), and Paritosh Chandra (RSP).

The parties articulated their well-known position: while they have no objection to an agreement with the NSCN(I-M) if it ushers into a regime of peace, it could not and must not be extended outside Nagaland. All the parties came down heavily on the Vajpayee government for extension of the ceasefire area and demanded its restriction to the territory of Nagaland. They also charged the central government with hatching conspiracy to divide the people and disturb territorial integrity of the north-eastern states. (INN)