LFS takes out protest rally, many flay bomb attack
Source: Chronicle News Service / NNN
Imphal, June 07 2022:
Condemning the bomb explosion at the gate of Little Flower School, Sangaiprou here in the wee hours of June 5; teachers, students, past pupils and administration of the school took out a peaceful rally on Tuesday.
The rally began from the school and took a U-turn from Kwakeithel traffic point before ending at the school.
The protestors held placards inscribed with slogans like 'We condemn bomb attack on our school', 'Allow us to grow without fear', We are the future, save us', Spare us, we just survived the pandemic', Make education a free zone', 'We want peace' and 'Education is our basic right' among others.
Speaking on the sidelines of the rally, a student protestor appealed not to repeat such attacks at the all-girl school.
She further exhorted to ensure education to students without any fear.
Meanwhile, All Tribal Students' Union, Manipur (ATSUM), All Naga Students' Association, Manipur (ANSAM) and Kuki Students' Organisation-General Headquarters (KSO-GHQ) said that the "evil act of violence against educational institutions has cropped up again where Christian missionary-run educational institutions usually are the victims".
The student bodies said that such an "evil and insensitive act" of planting and detonating of bomb at Little Flower School on June 5 by miscreants not only threatened the lives of school children but also hampered the functioning of the school.
ATSUM, ANSAM and KSO condemn the incident in the strongest terms and caution the perpetrators not to repeat it, the statement said.
According to the tribal student organisations, the attack on Christian missionary-run educational institutions has become a periodic yearly phenomenon in the state.
They alleged that selective targeting of these schools for extortion and bomb attack can be a religious conspiracy taking into consideration certain people's intolerance to other religions or to de stray the competition put up by these schools in terms of quality and popularity.
The bodies then appealed to all concerned to respect these Christian-run educational institutions which have made utmost contribution to progress and development of education in the state.
The three tribal student organisations then said that the arrest of the attackers by the Manipur police is laudable.
"Thorough investigation has also to be initiated to arrest the conspirators so that victimisation of the Christian-run institutions does not happen again in future," they added.
Naga Students' Federation (NSF) also strongly condemned the attack and said that it is deeply perturbed at the bomb blast that took place on June 5 .
"The Federation registers our strongest condemnation to this dastardly act perpetrated within the premise of an educational institution.
This has caused immense trauma in the young minds of the students.
While the entire region is collectively striving towards peace and stability, such dastardly act negates the very aspiration of the general populace and ought to be out rightly condemned by all right thinking citizens", it continued.
"We stand in solidarity and extend our fullest support to the Little Flower School in our pursuit towards a secure future where the entire region will thrive together in harmony," the student body added.
Federal Students' Organisation, Kangleipak (FESOK) also condemned the bomb attack and described as very unfortunate that the attack happened when schools have just started functioning after the Covid-19 pandemic subsided in the state.
FESOK appealed to all to desist from carrying out such violent acts in places of edu cation in future as it creates an atmosphere of fear amongst students and disturbs the academic activities.