Killing of Army men unfortunate, will interfere in development : Jitendra Singh

IMPHAL: The killing of 18 Army personnel by militants in Chandel on June 4 was "very unfortunate" for Manipur, Union Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (DONER) Jitendra Singh said today.

"The incident of June 4 last was very unfortunate as it would interfere in the progress of development work in Manipur," he told newsmen here.

Singh appealed to the people of the north-east in general and Manipur in particular to maintain peace and tranquillity to achieve the goal of speedy development.

The Centre, he assured, would work in close coordination with the state government to tackle the situation prevailing in Manipur.

He said he had come to Manipur to assure its people and those of the north-eastern region that the Centre stood beside them.

He had met both Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh and Governor Syed Ahmed just after landing here and discussed the situation with them.

Singh, however, did not answer any question on cross border military operation inside Myanmar. He did the same in regard to a question on whether the Centre would resume peace talks with NSCN(K), which had claimed to have carried out the attack on the Army men at Chandel, if it opted for it.

He said the matter was not in his ministerial purview. Regarding the withdrawal of special status to north eastern states by the Centre, the union minister said it was done in their best interest.

R N Ravi, interlocutor of peace talks with NSCN(IM) attended the press conference.

Ravi told PTI that the ongoing peace talks with NSCN(IM) was progressing well.

"The ongoing peace talks is progressing very well," he said, adding, it should not take too long to get its result.