Arunachal: Cong tries to embarrass govt

NEW DELHI: In a bid to embarrass the government and prove the involvement of the Naga insurgents in the political crisis of Arunachal Pradesh, the Congress Party on Tuesday released to the press copies of two letters: One written by Arunachal Chief Minister Mukut Mithi to the Prime Minister and another by party President Sonia Gandhi to the Deputy PM L K Advani.
Mithi’s letter of July 14, alleges that the minister of state for home, Swami Chinmayanand had criticised the Arunachal government in a public speech for taking action against Naga insurgents.
"If reported correctly the minister of state appears to be advising the state government that no action should be taken against extortion, terror, murder and other crimes. Being the minister of state he needs no reminder that the home ministry''s orders were issued when negotiations with the NSCN were already under way, and pendency of negotiations is no license to extort and kill," Mithi wrote to the PM.
The Congress has been alleging that the recent political crisis that has almost unseated the Congress government in Arunachal is the result of Congress MLAs being threatened by Naga insurgents to join hands with Gegong Apang. Now, the party is releasing documents to prove that the home ministry has not been cooperating with the state government in its attempt to contain the Naga insurgents who have been active in Arunachal.
Mithi had written that, "The minister of state needs to be reminded that his ministry has agreed to ground rules that require the insurgents to stay in designated camps in Nagaland, not to move out with arms , and not to commit crimes. The inability, or the unwillingness, to impose the ground rules is the cause of insurgency spreading to peace state of Arunachal Pradesh".
Gandhi had written on April 22 to Advani that the centre should "increasingly involve the democratically elected state governments of the region in all peace negotiations and aim for tripartite agreements, as was done recently in the case of Assam".