Many more decry Salungpham killing
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, December 19 2024: Poirei Leimarol Meira Paibi Apunba Manipur and the All Manipur Women's Voluntary Association (AMAWOVA) have asked the Government to dismiss all the police personnel involved in the killing of village volunteer Laishram Prem and release all the six arrested village volunteers without any condition.

Speaking to media persons at the Khoyathong office of Poirei Leimarol Meira Paibi Apunba Manipur today, AMAWOVA president Y Kunjarani said that village volunteers came into being after Kukis launched a sustained campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Meiteis on May 3, 2023.She asked what are the security forces doing to those people who have been killing innocent Meitei people if they (security forces) have started killing village volunteers.

All the police personnel involved in the killing of Laishram Prem must be dismissed and all the six village volunteers who were arrested by police should be released without any condition at the earliest, she said.

Before disbanding the village volunteers, the ongoing genocidal war against the Meitei people should be stopped first, Kunjarani said.

She said that giving a free hand to one side and restraining the other side is unacceptable.

Womenfolk will fight all attempts to harm village volunteers, she asserted.

"A large number of security forces have been deployed in every part of the State in the name of protecting the people but how can we trust security forces after Laishram Kamalbabu who worked as a supervisor inside the Leimakhong military station with a written assurance given by the army for his safety disappeared without any trace from inside the heavily fortified military station", she said.

Keeping Imagi Meira convenor Thokchom Sujata and two other women under house arrest at Delhi where they went to attend a Nupi Lan Day observation is a blatant case of human rights violation.

The Government of India and the State Government have been shirking responsibilities with regard to the protracted crisis besieging the State.

At the same time, the State Government has been silently acquiescing to the Government of India's divide and rule policy, she said.

The Meitei community has been defending and protecting Manipur throughout its history.

If Meiteis are wiped out, there will be no Manipur, Kunjarani said.

She also demanded complete repeal of AFSPA 1958.People have been fighting against this draconian Act for decades and the struggle will go on until the same inhuman Act is scrapped, she added.

Poirei Leimarol Meira Paibi Apunba Manipur president Soraisham Memcha said that the Government of India has started persecuting innocent people by reimposing AFSPA in the areas of six police stations at a time when the people have been enduring extreme misery for 19 months on account of the protracted crisis.

She also condemned in the strongest terms the killing of village volunteer Laishram Prem by police commandos.

She questioned what the MLAs have been doing with regard to the diabolic plots hatched by the Government of India.

She went on to ask if the MLAs will cling to their seats of power even after all the people are wiped out.

All the mothers and womenfolk will fight back in befitting manner if any more village volunteers are killed.

The village volunteers are protecting the Meitei people, she said.

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