Fresh from being hit by the countrywide agitation here, the BCIM Car Rally is faced with another major hurdle with the Kuki tribe in Assam and Manipur threatening to block the entry if their demands are not met.
"We are speaking to the Chief Minister of Manipur (Okram Ibobi Singh) to negotiate a safe passage into Myanmar. Anything can happen even though the stretch is for just 20kms. We don't want to take any chances... Let's hope for the best," Indian rally contingent head Sunil Misra said here today.
The rally of 80 participants from the four countries in 20 cars was stranded in Dhaka following a strike today by the Islamic party alliance that was supported by Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
The convoy that was leave to Dhaka early this morning could make its move only in the evening after the strike subsided as the next stop of the rally is in Sylhet in the north-eastern part of the country before heading to Silchar and Imphal in India.
The 12-day rally will then proceed to Myanmar and culminate at Kunming, in the Yunnan province of China on March 5.
The car rally, which has a motto of 'Building Bonds, Fostering Friendship', is focused to play a catalysis in stimulating interest of the concerned stakeholders in deepening BCIM cooperation.
But in a fresh setback to the rally, the Kuki State Demand Committee (KSDC) has threatened to block the entry of the cross-country rally into 'Kuki areas' of the state with an indefinite public blockade that is scheduled to begin tonight.
"Not a single car of the BCIM Car Rally will be allowed to pass through Kuki territory and any attempt to use force will be met with an equal measure of resistance," the KSDC has threatened in a statement on February 22.
