Source: The Imphal Free Press
New Delhi, June 24:
Manipuri students here in the capital city took to the streets yesterday to protest against the extension of ceasefire agreement between the NSCN (IM) and GoI.
The demonstration staged under the aegis of the Manipuri Students� Association, Delhi, kicked off from Jantar Mantar in Central Delhi at noon but it was blocked by riot police after moving less than a kilometer.
The around 500 students participating in the demonstration shouted slogans and displayed banners that said among others, �Save Manipur�, �Down with Divide and Rule Policy�, �Vajpayee, if you are a true national leader come to Manipur and talk to people rather than sitting in Delhi�, etc.
a delegation of student leaders headed by its president Sunil Maibam submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister.
The memorandum urged the Prime Minister to review the extension of ceasefire for the sake of the Manipur people as a whole.
It expressed that the Manipuri students� community �solemnly honour the departed souls who have devotionally sacrificed their lives while safeguarding the integrity of Manipur� and hoped that the PM too would honour them for their service to the nation.
The demonstration march culminated in a public meeting and formation of a committee of students outside Manipur to take further steps of agitation if the Centre did not revoke the ceasefire agreement with the NSCN (IM).
The committee which had representatives from Kurukshetra, Chandigarh, Dehradun and Meerut, along with the MSAD, would decide the next course of action after studying the outcome of the meet between Manipuri political leaders and Vajpayee and Advani today, a spokesman of the group said.