Imphal, May 15: Chief minister O Ibobi Singh informed the house that the ongoing cessation of hostilities between the NSCN (IM) and the Central Government does not cover teh territory of Manipur.

Deliberating on a call attention motion from MPP duo O Joy Singh and Dr I Ibohalbi today, the CM said, "We welcome the ongoing peace process but if the ceasefire entails negative implications then we cannot tolerate it." Referring to reports of rescuing the Ukhrul district's Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pal and escorting the official back to the capital some days back due to alleged threats from the NSCN (IM), the two Opposition legislators described the IM action as undermining the state administration if at all the information is valid.

In his response, Ibobi recalled that based on the said reports, chief secretary Jarnail Singh has intimated the matter to the chairman of ceasefire monitoring cell Gen (retd) Kulkarni insisting that if any untoward incident occurs owing to the rebels' threat the state Government would not take any responsibilities.

Owing to the depletion of strength of 6 Bn Manipur Rifles stationed in Ukhrul due to assignments as personnel escorts of VIPs including Ministers and MLAs, a strong team of state forces from Imphal rescued the DC safely, the CM said.

the said battalion is informed to be in existence in name sake only with hardly 50 personnel available at disposal.

Informing the house that the ceasefire does not cover Manipur, the cMalso in charge of Home portfolio nevertheless accused the outfit for its alleged indulgence in illegal tax collection along NH 39 in Nagaland sector with its police personnel seldom acting to check such illegal conducts.

As no one had formally lodged a complaint pertaining to inconvenience caused to the Ukhrul DC the police could not register criminal cases under the relevant act, Ibobi conceded.

The State govt, however, is undecided on whether to register it after possessing concrete evidences.

Since no armed NSCN (IM) cadre physically came approached and threatened the DC, the Assam Rifles personnel stationed at Ukhrul did not swing into action, the CM clarified, adding that AR normally reacts after giving prior information by the state forces.

For restoring smooth functioning of the district administration the govt is insisting upon the centre to raise India Reserve Battalion (IRB) in each and every district headquarters.

Currently the state has four IRB battalions with personnel of two Bns undergoing training while the required three might be raised soon, he said.

Regarding his view on the act of rescuing the DC that signifies irrelevance of state administration, O Joy opined "If the reports are true then it indicates there is a parallel govt in the state.

it is an affront to the state administration".

Dr Ibohalbi observed that after such reports were published the public has begun to question as to "who is running the state".

Today's session also featured influx of foreign nationals to the State with the Chief Minister listing 53 foreigners finding illegal accesses in the last five years.

Asserting that the Government would take all necessary measures to foil and push back such illegal entries, O Ibobi informed the House in response to a query from Congress MLA Kh Loken that Bangladeshis made up the largest number of influxes at 24.Other nationalities include from countries like Turkey, US, Korea, Japan, Romania, Germany, Nigeria and Myanmar.

As these persons were found to have arrived without proper documents their stays in the State were promptly prohibited with the invocation of 'restricted area permit Act', the CM said.

In his presentation, Kh Loken contemplated that unchecked influx of foreign nationals would not only lead to dilution of the State's demography but would have far reaching consequences to the rich culture and tradition of the Manipuri society.

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