Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, October 08:
Former MP and CPI (ML) politburo member Jayant Rongpi today stated that draconian laws like the AFSPA will not help in solving insurgency in the State but would rather encourage it as security forces have been using it as an instrument for creating terror among the general masses.
Addressing a press conference at the Manipur University Guest House, Rongpi urged the people of the region to rise up and launch a unified struggle for the removal of the dreaded AFSPA act from the entire North East and further said that the ongoing protest against AFSPA is a direct result of the years of atrocities committed by the security forces on the helpless citizens of the State.
Expressing solidarity to the continuing agitation for the removal of AFSPA from the State, Rongpi questioned the Central Govt on why it was reluctant to lift the dreaded act from the North East while it was willing to repeal another repressive Act POTA from other parts of the country and added that such attitude of the Central leaders will only increase the sense of alienation among the people of the North East.
Coming down heavily on Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Rongpi said that PM has betrayed the people of the NE by remaining completely indifferent to the burning issues of the region.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was elected as a Rajya Sabha MP from Assam in the last LS election.
He also strongly condemned Home Minister Shivraj Patil for declaring a protracted war on the people of the north east and demanded his immediate dismissal from his Home Minister post.
Sending additional troops in the NE will not help in solving the insurgency problem in the region but would only aggravate the matter, added Rongpi.