Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, October 01 2009:
The stoic silence and the posture of total indifference adopted by New Delhi towards the innumerable fake encounters and extra-judicial killings being perpetrated in the State would only heighten the sense of alienation among the people of Manipur, the Working Committee of the Apunba Lup said in a press release.
Even after the July 23 BT Road fake encounter was exposed to the whole world by Tehelka magazine, the State Government been trying its best to cover up the incident.
Accusing Chief Minister Okram Ibobi of scheming to wipe out Manipuri nation from the surface of the earth, the Apunba Lup asserted that Ministers and MLAs supporting Ibobi have become enemies of the people for they too did not spare any time to listen to the people's appeals and complaints.
Instead of falling prey to the divide and rule policy and acting against the people's movement which is aimed at ensuring right to life of all the people of Manipur, the Apunba appealed to all those deviants to join the mass movement in order to bring security and peace in the state.
Apparently referring to the article of the PRO IG AR (South) published in some sections of media, the Apunba Lup pointed out that the most primary issue at present is about the right to life.
Saying that no dead man pursues education, the Apunba Lup said that the PRO's article appeared to be supporting the killing spree unleased by O Ibobi.
In the prevailing lawless situation, right to life must obviously precede right to education in the public conscience, it asserted.
Noting that thousands of innocent people have been killed in fake encounters, the Apunba Lup lamented in most of such cases, people's movement ended mid-way without achieving a logical conclusion.
Ultimately, it were the slain people and their families who ended up as helpless losers.
In case the ongoing movement against the BT Road fake encounter ends in defeat, there may not be any possible means to save the Manipuri nation, the Apunba Lup said.
As such, it is the responsibility of all the people to ensure that the movement achieve its goals in order to save the nation.
Further reacting to the CM's statement that educational institutions were not disturbed even during World War II and that some schools have been gifted bullets, the Apunba Lup remarked that the Chief Minister's statement was not surprising at all.
The Chief Minister was targeting the student community, allegedly not satisfied by the prevailing anarchy which resulted from the practice of putting weapons beside bodies of innocent people after killing them.
The CM's statement was full of irony as he did not talk anything about the academic days because of prolonged imposition of curfew.
Alleging that O Ibobi has been plotting to blame some student bodies after gifting bullets to schools through his hired men, the Apunba Lup demanded an immediate halt to the practice of gifting bullets to schools.
Until and unless CM O Ibobi steps down from his seat, there is no question of the Apunba Lup backing down from the ongoing movement, it added.