'Curfew' on non-locals Non-local traders down shutter
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, February 12 2014: Non-local traders today put to a halt all commercial activities in Imphal owing to a 'curfew' clamped on them by a group of student bodies against the Centre's failure to effectively handle the renewed racist attacks on the North East people in New Delhi.

Due to the curfew, business establishments at Thangal Bazaar, Paona Bazaar, BT road, Alu Galli, Nagamapal and the city outskirts were closed.

Comprising of AMSU, MSF, DESAM, KSA, SUK and AIMS, the committee christened the Joint Students' Co-ordinating Committee imposed the curfew from 5 am till midnight of today.

Non- Manipuri traders also downed shutters at various parts of the valley districts, reports said.

JSCC convener Th Premchand flayed the Centre for failing to take specific measures against the spate of renewed attacks on the people from the region in metros like Delhi .

Shops with shutters down

The curfew is not the end, he said and added that if the Centre fails to act then undesirable consequences may arise.

The latest assault occurred in the wee hours of Tuesday at Paryavaran Vihar area in Delhi where miscreants stabbed a 22-year-old Manipur boy.

The renewed attacks began with the assault of two Manipuri women at Kotla Mubarakpur on January 25, followed by the killing of Arunachal Pradesh student Nido Tania on January 29 at Lajpat Nagar market and the thrashing of another two Manipuri youths at Ambedkar Nagar on Sunday evening.

The Joint Students' Coordinating Committee ( JSCC) alleged that the Centre has been treating the issue in the most casual manner.

On the other hand, Manipur unit BJP president Thounoujam Chaoba Singh has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take necessary action for safeguarding the dignity and identity of the North East people which in turn would preserve the unity of the nation.

The issue of racist attacks is not expected in a democratic country like India, Chaoba said in a letter the copies of which were also forwarded to Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Sindhe and BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders.

Racial discrimination is not a good social indicator for a democratic and developing country like India and the rest of the world would condemn these acts and it would surely go against the image of the Nation, he said and added that justice is yet to be delivered to the recent victims of racist attacks, said Chaoba.

"In a city where more than two lakh North East people are either studying or working, the rate of rape, brutal killing, stabbing to death, eve teasing, and even using derogatory words to insult and instigate anger has increased and has in turn ignited the uncomfortable question of racism in India," he added.

On Tuesday, member of the Manipur State Commission for Women, June Rose Vaiphei along with leaders of Vaiphei civil bodies visited the minor rape victim from Manipur at AIIMS New Delhi.