Imphal, December 20 2008: MAJOR GENERAL A K Choudhary, Inspector General of Assam Rifles (South) on Saturday said the tripartite talk between the centre and state governments with the Kuki militants operating in Manipur is "progressing".

The fourth round of the talks under Suspension of Operation (SoO) pact was held in Imphal on Friday with Principal Secretary (Home) D S Poonia in the chair.

The Assam Rifles IG in an interaction with the media persons in presence of various ranks of AR officers here at the headquarter of the IG AR (South), reacting to a query in connection with the ongoing talk said "some progress has been made".

Agreeing that Insurgency problems could be solved only through dialogue,the Maj Gen Choudhary however said the violence level in the hills came down following ceasefire and signing of SoO with the Kuki militants.

As there are too many groups with too many personal interests people, we have to take precautions, he feels.

"Despite all this, if anyone comes up for talks, we must talk" Maj Gen Choudhary opined.

A valley based Militant group has also come out for talk in the recent time.

This is a good step in bringing out a logical conclusion, the General observed.

On the question of government's sincerity over the ongoing tripartite talk, Maj Gen Choudhary believed that the government may revealed it in time after finalising the things in order first.

On the other hand, Maj Gen Choudhary feels that the mindset of people in Manipur has changed a lot in the past 10 years or so.

"Now the populace has the gut and confidence in voicing against unwanted things whether it is extortion or abduction etc", he said and added they openly come out which is going to make new things in the region.

Maj Gen Choudhary also expressed his desire to stop any form of obstruction against the development projects in the state.

Our endeavor is to restore normalcy and functioning of proper administration, besides helping the authority in other developmental works,he added.

Lauding the media coverage despite having various forms of pressures, the head of this 172 year old force in Manipur also want the Media to play a vital role in this regard." In every morning, everyone here were seen with newspapers, this is plus point of Media here unlike other places" he opined.

When asked why there's no government official is being deployed to function the civil administration even after the Assam Rifles claimed to have cleared militants occupation in Somtal area in Manipur's Chandel district, the Assam Rifle IG said, "I agree with you,but due to certain factors it cannot come up everything overnight".

"You see, 25 soldiers lost their limbs in Somtal operations" he said.Yet some roads started to come up, SDO office at Khengjoi is coming up besides Defence is also expected to construct more roads,he felt.

Responding to another observation against the then unwanted attitude of the Assam Rifles personnel in executing their duties, Maj Gen Choudhary made it clear that Counter Insurgency Operations is the most difficult job for any force.

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