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'Militants' extortion notices to missionaries increasing'

'Militants' extortion notices to missionaries increasing'

Author:
Publication: The Hindu
Date: May 20, 2001

Militant outfits in Manipur have served huge extortion notices to the educational institutions run by missionaries, authorities said today.

Shock waves rippled through the region this week when militants killed three missionaries following altercation regarding extortion near Imphal.

Father Jonas Kerketta, Vice-provincial of the Salesians of Don Bosco, Dimapur, under which all the institutions are run in Manipur and Nagaland, told reporters today that each extortion notice ranged between Rs. 25 lakhs and Rs. 5 lakhs.

The missionaries are presently running 31 high schools, five higher secondary schools, one technical school and one college in Manipur and each of these had been served extortion notices.

At least 1,000 Christian missionary-run schools across the northeast remained closed on Friday in protest against the killings.

Father Kerkatta said the militants entered the seminary premises, tried to separate the Naga students from the non-Naga and demanded money from the three priests at gunpoint before shooting them at close range.

Father Kerkatta accused the Revolutionary People Front (RPF) of Manipur of serving the extortion notices which bore the letterheads of the organisation.

He regretted that due to political turmoil, the Manipur Government was not in a position to tackle the prevailing unrest.

Mr. Allan Brooks, president, All-India Catholic Union of Assam, said they were completely confused why the educational institutes which had been rendering so much of philanthropic service for the past one and a half centuries to the north-east, had been targetted. Fr. George Plathottam, Director, Don Bosco Communications, said missionaries are facing a similar plight in Tripura as well as in the Bodos dominated areas in Assam.

He informed that for the past three months all the educational institutions of Manipur have remained closed. ``They are now on extended summer vacations although the schools should have been closed for 15 days only.''

Both Fr. Jonas and Fr. George asserted that under no circumstance would they be paying the militants. ``How, why and whom should we pay? There are 70 recognized militant groups.''

More than 35 per cent of the total 33 million population in north-east States are Christians, predominantly belonging to Nagaland and Mizoram.

- UNI
 


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