ZYF condemns
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, April 21 2015 :
Zeliangrong Youth Front (ZYF) has strongly condemned the act of pelting stones, destruction of village gate and sacred ritual site and urination and spitting on village deity by a group of people at Kinthanlong (Ramji) village in Imphal West district on April 15 .
In a statement, ZYF said that the incident had created a tense atmosphere in the village.
Such incidents would lead to negative consequences in the State where people of different communities and faiths are living together, the statement added.
However, tolerance of Kinthanlong villagers is praiseworthy as they did not resort to any retaliatory action, the statement said. Maintaining that the vandalism has deeply hurt the religious sentiments of Kinthanlong villagers in particular and Zeliangrong people in general, the statement said that such senseless act is punishable under the law of the land.
As such, police must take up a suo moto criminal case against the attackers so that similar incidents do not recur in any part of the State, the statement said.
It further said that there is a traditional and customary practice of imposition of penalty under the customary laws of Zeliangrong community against any person who destructs any structure or property belonging to other persons, attacks with the intention of inflicting casualty or cause damage, intrudes into other's territory etc.
As such, ZYF can initiate customary proceedings against the attackers if the authority concerned fails to punish the culprits, the statement said.
Information collected from the village by ZYF have revealed that Kinthanlong village possesses legally valid documents to claim the boundary of the village.
ZYF also urged the officials concerned not to manipulate or tamper any document but to rely on the past records for the sake of maintaining mutual understanding and peace among the people of different communities in the State.
ZYF also appealed to the civil society bodies of the State to intervene into the standoff and bring a peaceful atmosphere in the village.