Business wheel at Moreh back on track (Trade with Myanmar to resume after transporters lift strike against extortion)

“We resume transport services from today. We have decided to suspend the strike after the groups accepted our demands,” a spokesman said.

The organisation has stopped services on the Imphal-Moreh stretch of National Highway 39 since April 5.

The committee has rejected the Okram Ibobi Singh government’s offer to provide escorts to the transporters plying on the stretch.

Trade between the two neighbouring countries, that remained shut for the last 11 days, could not resume today because of a shutdown of markets at Namphalong and Tamu because of the water festival that started on Sunday.

Border trade at Moreh in Chandel district and Namphalong in Myanmar came to a complete halt in the wake of suspension of transport services, preventing traders from reaching the border town of Moreh.

A concerned Delhi rushed India’s ambassador to Myanmar, Bhaskar Mitra, to Moreh on April 8 to assess the situation.

Five transporters’ organisations formed the joint action committee to protest against extortion by militant groups.

As suspension of services is affecting trade and inconveniencing people, the government invited the transporters to solve the impasse.

On Thursday, the transporters rejected the government’s plea to resume service on the Imphal-Moreh Road.

A delegation of the committeee met director-general of police Yumnam Joykumar Singh.

The police chief had reportedly appealed to them to resume services in the interest of the traders and people living in Chandel district.

However, the transporters said they felt unsafe despite security.

An official source at Moreh said trade will resume after the Namphalong market would reopen tomorrow.

The spring festival began on Sunday and the Namphalong market, just across Moreh, has remained closed since that day.

Namphalong and Moreh are the links of the border trade.

Protest: Elected representatives of urban local bodies staged a sit-in at Bishnupur bazaar in Manipur today to protest against extortion demands by militant groups operating in the state.

The secretary of the Joint Action Committee of the All Manipur Municipal Councils and Nagar Panchayats, Bimola Devi, alleged that the threat by militants had stood in the way of smooth functioning of the local bodies.

The councillors, who had held a similar protest in Imphal yesterday, said they would continue their peaceful demonstration in all the districts and launch a pen-down strike if their demand was not accepted by the militant outfits.

“We may even consider resigning en masse,” Bimola Devi said.

This is the second time that elected representatives staged sit-in-protests against militants’ demands.

Last month. the pradhans and members of gram panchayats of Imphal East district held a sit-in.

The major insurgent organisations operating in the state are the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), Kanglei Yawol Kann Lup (KYKL), Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF), and the People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (Prepak), among others.