Womenfolk rally against separate admin demand
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, June 24 2024: Seeking the attention of the Parliament to resolve the Manipur crisis without compromising the State's unity and integrity, a large number of women vendors and traders staged a sit-in protest at Khwairam-band Keithel today and later took out a rally.

Some of the demands which were raised during the protest demonstration were to end the violence in Mani-pur immediately and not to arrest village volunteers who have been guarding Meetei villages.

The protesters also demanded that the Govern- ment should not succumb to the separate administration demand being raised by Chin-Kuki people nor should the Parliament pass any resolution in favour of their demand.

The sit-in protest was organised by the Khwairam- band Ima Keithel Joint Coordinating Committee for Peace (KIKJCCP) .

Womenfolk rally against separate admin demand

After the sit-in protest, the women vendors took out a rally towards Raj Bhavan and the CM's Bungalow but they were stopped by a large number of Imphal West and City police near Congress Bhavan along BT Road.

As the police blocked their way, the protesters tried to take the road on the eastern side of Mapal Kang-jeibung which leads to Manipur Fire Services office, but their endeavour failed again as police stopped them.

The rallyists returned to Khwairamband Keithel and resumed their sit-in in protest by raising different slogans.

Speaking to the media by the sideline, KIKJCCP convenor Laishram Memma said that their democratic protest was against the demand being raised by Kuki people to disintegrate Mani-pur.

"The Kuki people were allowed to take out a rally and raise their demand to disintegrate Manipur today on the first day of the 18th Lok Sabha session but we weren't and the same is embarrassing in front of those sections of Kukis who have been scheming to break the State apart," Memma asserted.

"Our demand is very simple, don't succumb to the demand of Kuki people who want disintegration of Manipur", Memma said as she continued that their protest was to counter the demand being raised during the rally taken out by Kuki people today.

Not an inch of Manipur's territory should be compromised, she said.

Continuing that the studied silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the random statements given by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the Manipur crisis show the insincerity of the Central leadership, Memma cautioned that they (the mothers) may also take up arms to safeguard the State if the Government begins a crackdown on village volunteers.

The stand of Meetei people is that they won't give even a piece of land to foreigner Kukis, she added.

Further stating that MLAs and Ministers haven't done anything worthwhile to resolve the crisis in Mani-pur, Memma asked the legislators to remember that they were elected by the people.

Saying that she understands the people who obstruct them were also doing their duty, she added they also have all the right to stage a protest democratically so there is no need to use brute force against one another.

The Central and the State forces didn't do anything when the Kuki women protested, Memma continued and sought explanation from the security forces for their alleged biasedness.