Union of Social Upliftment clarifies Dec 18 incident, appeals for peace
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, December 24 2016: Union of Social Upliftment today urged the people of the State to collectively work to safeguard the integrity of the State and promote peace.

Speaking to mediapersons at its office located at Khurai Lamlong Keithel, Union of Social Upliftment spokesperson Athokpam Okendra said that a meeting was held yesterday at Sajor Leikai, Ukhrul road wherein elders, members of local clubs and Meira Paibi Lups took part in it and adopted various resolutions.

Stating that the Central Government, State Government and UNC should take the responsibility for all the hardships people have been going through, the meeting also termed the incident which occurred in Khurai Heikrumakhong as unfortunate.

Union of Social Upliftment clarifies Dec 18 incident, appeals for peace

Athokpam Okendra said that people should know the reason behind the incident which happened on December 18 in Khurai Heikrumakhong so as to clear the misunderstanding among the people.

He recounted, "On that day, there was a report of people from hill districts are living Imphal following the 24 hours imposed by the women vendors of Khwairamband Keithel.

People of Khurai then visited tribal areas in and around Khurai to urge not to leave.

The volunteers also provided assurance to the respective village leaders to keep them away from any harm.

In the meantime, security personnel who were escorting a large number of people to Ukhrul suddenly fired several rounds of tear gas shells and mock bombs soon after the escorted vehicles crossed Khurai area.

Some locals sustained injuries following which infuriated locals started protesting" .

He further said, "To prevent any further harm, our brothers and sisters from hill areas were then taken to safer places by the locals and later handed over to the State Government.

The State Government should investigate in order to ascertain as to how the incident occurred.

Any individual belonging either to Manipur or Nagaland who has no solid evidence to support their allegations should refrain from making statements that might create misunderstanding and sour the relationships among the people." He also clarified that though locals of Khurai had helped to prevent any unwanted incident from happening on December 18, none of the locals has detained passenger carrying vehicles till date.

"We want to urge all the people of the State to assist in helping our brothers and sisters visit their homes and observe Christmas," he added.

During this fragile situation, organisations, groups or any individual should refrain from any activity that may worsen the situation.

Let us stop being selfish and start working to restore normalcy in the State, he said.

People of Khurai will not entertain anyone who works with vested interests, Athokpam Okendra said while extending gratitude to Goodwill Mission for Peaceful Co-existence and other concerned organisations for urging the Chief Minister to lift the indefinite curfew from Khurai Lamlong-Ukhrul road and Pangei road.