Indian forces to break Manipur blockade

India will send paramilitary troops yesterday to end a blockade of a northeastern state by tribal groups that has cut food and medical supplies for over two months, a top official said.
Several Naga tribal groups have blocked the main highways into Manipur state since April 12 to protest against a government decision preventing their separatist leader, Thuingaleng Muivah, from visiting his birthplace.
Government officials say they have only got two food convoys into the state since the start of the protest, sending food prices soaring, while hospitals have run perilously low on essential medical supplies.
"The process would begin from Tuesday and we shall see to it that food supplies reach Manipur," Home Secretary GK Pillai, the senior civil servant in the interior ministry, told AFP from New Delhi.
Muivah's National Socialist Council of Nagaland has been campaigning for decades for a Naga homeland to be carved out from three of India's seven northeastern states, including Manipur.
The Manipur government had banned 75-year-old Muivah's trip to his home village, saying it could stoke unrest. On May 6, six tribal protesters were killed and up to 70 injured during demonstrations over the ban.
"The central government's decision to use force to break the deadlock has come in late, but still we welcome the move," N Biren Singh, senior minister and Manipur government spokesman, told AFP from Manipur's capital Imphal.
In New Delhi on Monday, a delegation led by Mutsikhoyo Yhobu, the president of the Nagaland Student Federation, which has spearheaded the blockade, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other top political figures.
Manipur, which has long been affected by insurgent violence, is home to dozens of tribal groups and small guerrilla armies that resist rule from New Delhi and often compete against each other.
Meanwhile, a delegation of senior Naga leaders is expected to call on Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh here this evening in an attempt to find a solution for the economic blockade.
The Naga tribes have been imposing economic blockade since mid-April on National Highways 39 and 53 to oppose the election, and support the proposed visit of NSCN (IM) leader, Thuingaleng Muiva
The All Naga Students' Association (ANSAM) had launched the blockade to protest holding of elections to six autonomous district councils which, it alleged, were against not given enough power to carry out development works.