CCpur denizens form human chain to protest Bills
Source: The Sangai Express

CCpur, September 19 2015 : Tens of thousands of tribal women today formed a 12-kms long human chain in protest against the three 'anti-tribal' Bills, two days after they had held a historic torch rally as part of the peoples movement that has overwhelmed the district since the Bills were passed by the State Assembly on August 31 .

The extraordinary protest wherein women draped in black clothes linked their hands to drive home the several demands raised by the JAC.

It took about five hours for the organisers to actually form the human chain.

The massive formation began at the border village of Kangvai and concluded at the district hospital, where the bodies of nine 'tribal martyrs' who were killed during the violence that was triggered by the Bills, are still kept.

Womenfolk taking out a protest rally at Kangpokpi (L) and human chain formed in Churachandpur

Braving an afternoon sho-wer and walking for miles, the women protesters also signed a public declaration that 'out rightly rejected the three Bills passed by a special session of the Manipur Assembly on August 31, 2015,' and also dubbed them as an infringement on the rights and interest of the tribal people in Manipur.

The JAC formed to spearhead the peoples movement against the anti-tribal Bills, with womenfolk at the forefront of its agitation, has been demanding a complete repeal of 'the anti-tribal' Bills or annulling them within the ADCs jurisdiction.

They have also at the same time claimed that nothing less than a separate administration will meet the tribal's desire for self-determination over their land.

Today's human-chain was also part of the week-long agitation it announced on Mon- day as it seeks to protect the interest and rights of the tribal people.

Speaking on the rationale behind the formation of a massive human-chain, the JAC convenor H Mang-chinkhup said it is aimed at telling the Government and the world that "we are against the three Bills that have been passed by the State Government, and that we want them repealed immediately".

Signatures collected from the protesters today will be used as evidence before the Governments both at the State and the Centre that the tribal people disapprove the three Bills Manipur Assembly had passed on August 31, he claimed.

The JAC expected to receive not less than ten thou- sand signatures from today's protest event.

With the Bills now triggering a united contest from the tribal public and organisations alike, there has been an outcry particularly in Chur- achandpur against the elected representatives but the call for their resignation which continues to echoes until this day appears to have fallen on deaf ears.

The JAC had already declared a public boycott on them after their initial plea for their resignation was not heeded to, but the call for resignation continues unabated as the mass protest movement which is now into the third week appears to be growing stronger by the day in the district.