Rajnath Singh reviews NE security, Naga Peace Accord
Source: The Sangai Express / Courtesy - Indian Express
New Delhi, January 17 2018:
Ahead of elections in three North Eastern States, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday held a review meeting on the status of the Naga Peace Accord and security situation in all the North Eastern States.
Election dates for polls in Nagaland.
Tripura and Meghalaya are likely to be announced this week.
The Home Ministry will provide Central forces for the elections once the Election Commission announces the poll dates, officials said.
After the review, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said that no Rohingya entered India since 2014 after the BJP Government came to power.
Rijiju is also the Minister in charge for Nagaland.
Naga Interlocutor RN Ravi also attended the meeting.
The issue of the Naga Peace Accord has been raised by various stakeholders in the States, who have also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to postpone the elections until the accord is finalised.
However, the Home Minister had earlier clarified that elections in Nagaland would be held as per schedule During the review, it was revealed that insurgency-related incidents in the North East in 2017 were the lowest since 1997.Rijiju said 1,963 incidents were reported in 2000, which had come down to 308 last year, an overall decline of .85 per cent.
Rijiju said, "No insurgency-related incidents were reported in Tripura and Mizoram last year.
No security forces were killed in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram" .
In a report presented at the meeting, it was stated that abductions in all North Eastern States were down by 36 per cent last year compared to 2016 .
An official said that 168 incidents were reported in 2016, which fell to 102 in 2017 .
As compared to 2013, the number of civilians killed last year also registered a drastic drop.
In 2013,107 people were killed.
This came down by 66 per cent in 2017 to 37 .
The number of security forces killed was 12 last year as compared to 1X in 2013, registering 34 per cent decline.