Sobita ready to sacrifice remaining limb
Source: Hueiyen News Service / NNN

Imphal, October 22 2012: "To aflame one's abode to save another house is not the correct way to deliver justice.

Even if I have lost my one limb I am all prepared to lose the other one too if the Government of India chooses to act against the wishes of the people," Sorokhaibam Sobita, who was left with no other choice but to sever her one leg after a bullet hit her during the June 18, 2001 uprising, has stated boldly.

On June 18, 2001, the people rose up against the extension of NSCN-IM cease fire to Manipur.

Talking to Newmai News Network today, Sorokkhaibam Sobita said, "It is a clear signal of ill-treatment to the people by the Government of India which has not yet revealed the concrete points of agreement it has sketched with the NSCN-IM to end the Naga political issue" .

In the name of peace process, the Government of India is attempting to split up the hill-valley ties and Thuingaleng Muivah and Isak Chishi Swu, the NSCN bosses are not aware of it until now, she tweeted, adding that it is too late for NSCN-IM to open its eyes as it has not been able to perceive the treachery of the Government of India.

Sorokhaibam Sobita

A mother of one son and three daughters, Sobita is now passing her days sadly taking shelter inside a small room in the security quarter of Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS).

She has been put here for treatment ever since the scourge of the June 18 unrest.

Sobita asked how many lives and limbs are wanted by the Government of India to ensure peace to NSCN-IM this time and said that, to aflame one's abode to save another house is not the correct way to deliver justice.

"Such political strategy is nothing less than an attempt by the Government of India to create hostilities among the various ethnic groups", she alleged.

"If the Government of India chooses to act against the wishes of the people again, I am ready to join the latent movement of the people in the lead and sacrifice the other leg too," she vowed.

Although she has suffered a lot and her health seems to be deteriorating, Sobita said she is ready to sacrifice her whole life for the people to save Manipur from disintegration.

Her body weight was 70 kg during the time when she sustained bullet injuries on her leg but now she weighs no more than 53 kg.

The decrease in her body weight also made her to change her artificial limb three times.

The 45-year-old woman was wounded when security forces fired at a group of protesters during the June 18 movement.

One bullet hit her right calf which was later surgically removed.

Meanwhile, United Committee Manipur (UCM), which took a key role in spearheading the June uprising during which 18 lives have been lost, has informed that apart from Sobita, one Thangjam Badan from Khurai Tharoijam Leirak, Imphal East is also one of the victims among others who have been undergoing treatment in the aftermath of the bloody episode.

Badan sustained bullet splinters in both the chest and right kidney.

Recently, he got one kidney transplanted after medically taken out from his brother as both his kidneys subsequently failed, UCM Secretary General Joychandra Konthoujam told Newmai News Network.

Referring to the peace plan of the Government of India whose points of agreement have been kept away from the public domain to end the Naga political issue, Joychandra registered a strong warning saying that if the Government goes beyond the wishes of the people in dealing with NSCN-IM, UCM is prepared to launch mass agitation in collaboration with the people .