Vajpayee takes mobile telephony to Nagaland

With the people of Nagaland hoping for an end to the long drawn insurgency in the region, and the Centre talking to rebel group NSCN (I-M), Vajpayee asked them to ‘‘let the dialogue proceed…distances be removed…confidences be built…Let us together create peace and accelerate development.’’

He said the coming of mobile phone services to Nagaland was yet another sign of the changing times. ‘‘I am sure that this process of positive change will further speed up in the time to come,’’ he added.

The PM drove home the point with a dash of humour. ‘‘Arunji, I don’t know how the mobile phone technology works,’’ Vajpayee told him. To this, Shourie quipped, ‘‘that makes two of us.’’

Congratulating the Ministry of Communication and BSNL for bringing mobile telephony to the region, the PM said he would like all of N-E to be connected with this facility. ‘‘The people of Nagaland and other states in the northeast should benefit from the information and communication revolution sweeping the rest of India,’’ he said.

Cellular services were not extended to J-K and the northeast as security forces feared that they could be used by separatist rebels to plan attacks or evade troops.

Two main cities in N-E — Guwahati and Shillong — were connected through mobile telephony earlier.