Kohima, September 12: Nagaland Chief Minister SC Jamir today said Manipur Government and the media of that-State "grossly over-reacted" to the recent incident on National Highway 39 near Piphema where armed robbers looted three Imphal-bound buses and sexually harassed a lady passenger.

The Government and media in Manipur overreacted in an emotional manner without waiting for facts to be verified regarding the September five incident at Piphema, Jamir told mediapersons of both State-run and private organizations here.

On earlier report of two lady passengers being raped by the gang, the Chief Minister claimed it (the report) has become a terrible embarrassment for both the Government and the press in Manipur as investigation revealed that no such incident had occurred.

He said the Nagaland police swung into action immediately after the incident and arrested the culprits.

The Chief Minister also urged the local media to exercise restraint and not to get carried away.

Jamir in this context referred to the role played by local media and the people of Nagaland "who exercised maximum restraint while the anti-ceasefire agitation in Manipur had taken a violent turn." The Nagaland Chief Minister also drew the attention of his "Manipur counterparts" to the problem of insurgency faced by both States while claiming that "the activities of NSCN (IM) actually emanated from Manipur".

"As far as my Government is concerned it is trying its best to contain the situation and combat anti-national elements," Jamir said.

Coming back to the loot of passengers at Piphema, Jamir sought mutual co-operation and understanding between the two Governments to stop recurring of such .incidents in either State.

He asked his "counterparts in Manipur" to project the true picture to the public and remove their fears about traveling through Nagaland.

A group of Manipuri NGOs had recently urged Deputy PM LK Advani Advani to convene a joint meeting of both the Chief Ministers in the wake of the Piphema incident to ensure safe passage of vehicles moving through Nagaland.

The group had also launched road blockade in Manipur stretch of NH-39 with the vehicles passing through NH-53 to enter Assam.

The Chief Minister yesterday wrote to Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani and Manipur Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh separately elaborating on the Piphema incident and subsequent action taken by Nagaland police.

In his letter to Advani, Jamir maintained it was unfortunate that the media in Manipur and State machineries have "grossly overreacted in such an emotional manner based on hearsay and false reports in connection with the incident." Referring to recent incident of burning of effigies of Advani and himself in Imphal, Jamir said "since your name has been unnecessarily dragged into the petty matter, I thought it appropriate to keep you in the picture..." In his letter to Ibobi Singh, Jamir attached copies of police reports on the September five incident asserting that no rape took place during the looting of the buses by the armed miscreants.

Copies of the letters were, made available to the media today.

"I am however perturbed to learn that there has been very sharp reactions in Manipur...