Inmates at relief camp recall days before May 3
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, July 14 2023: Even as normal classes from Standard I to VIII have resumed at places where people stay at relatively safer places since July 5, the psychological wounds inflicted upon people of all age-groups in the periphery of the valley districts and foothills by blind hatred and the subsequent violence are yet to heal let alone send their children to schools.

Speaking to The Sangai Express, a Class V student Boy (not real name) from Kadangband Part-II said that the last time he went to his school was on May 3 .

Saying that he wants to live like a normal kid, attend classes and meet his school mates, the nine year old Boy said that he, however, fears going out of his home as there is a gunfight almost every night.

When will this violence end, he asked innocently and added that he misses his teachers and friends.

Inmates at relief camp recall days before May 3

Further stating that he has heard about classes being resumed and it makes him nostalgic, Boy reiterated that he feels bored most of the time as he couldn't even play with friends from the neighbourhood. A LLB fourth semester student Elangbam Lanchenbi said that both Kadangband Part I and Part-II near Singda Dam are Meetei villages.

Lanchenbi said that she couldn't even go to her college to fill up examination form due to the violence and sensitivity in the area.

Saying that Kadangband Part-I and Part-II are susceptible to Kuki militant attacks, she said that neighbouring villages of Kadangband such as Pheiyeng, Koutruk, Lairen Sajik and Phumlou also remain sensitive due to frequent bombardments and firings.

Lanchenbi said that she and many other families from Kadangband took shelter at Phumlou during the initial stage of the ethnic-conflict.

Continuing that they have decided to return home though they could be attacked anytime, Lanchebi said that their lives are still at stake.

"Kadangband remains one of the most sensitive battlefronts even though the people are not displaced," she sighed.

Asking how children and adolescents from vulnerable areas can attend schools and colleges, Lanchenbi said that the onslaught of Kuki militants has traumatised everyone from young to old in the area alike.

She said that she worries mostly about the children and elders who couldn't run for their lives as they (the Kuki militants) won't spare anyone.

Lanchenbi urged the Central and Manipur Governments to use all their resources to end the violence in Manipur so that they could live normally again.

One Huirem Lata (39) from Khoijumantabi in Bishnupur district said that Kuki militants routinely attack the people of Khoijumantabi, Lainoubi, Sandangkhong, Leingang Tabi, Thoubal Tabi, Chairel, Mangjin, Nungu and Tangjeng from the hilltop of Khoijumantabi using sophisticated weapons.

Saying that children from these areas are not in a condition to venture outside let alone attend schools, she said that frequent bombardments and firings by Kuki militants have terrified and inflicted mental wounds on the children of the areas.

She further said that some parents have entrusted their children to their relatives and boarding schools but not everyone can do the same.

Continuing that the violence has given untold misery to them as they have to look after their children, do the household works and also guard villages, Lata said that the restlessness she feels is unlikely to disappear anytime soon.

This reporter also interacted with students in a particular relief camp whose houses have been burnt and most of them said that the thoughts of their book and important documents being torched still haunt them.