Protest in Moreh demands restoration of peace
Source: Chronicle News Service
Kpi, January 27 2024:
Thousands of Kuki-Zo people from across the Indo-Myanmar border town of Moreh including students staged a massive sit-in-protest demanding restoration of peace in the border town on Saturday.
The protest jointly organised by Kuki Students' Organization, Moreh Block and Kuki Women's Union and Human Rights, Moreh was also joined by Moreh Private Schools' Association, Kuki Inpi Tengnoupal and Hill Tribal Council, Moreh.
The protest also condemned the alleged deliberate attempt to destroy educational institutions by burning down three schools in the border town recently and the delaying tactics in removing Manipur police commandos from Tengnoupal district despite the strong appeal from the people of the district.
The sit-in-protest was held at Moreh bazar starting from 9am and the protestors chanted slogans like 'We want normalcy in Moreh', 'Pu Modi opens our schools', 'Pu Union home minister fulfil our memorandum', 'Yes to school', 'No to Meitei commandos'.
Moreh Private Schools Association secretary Anthony Tongmang Mate said that the association is deeply in pain to see how children and students are deprived of education in Moreh.
He said that repeated appeals by various civil society organisations of Moreh to reopen schools remain futile and students remain deprived of education since the eruption of violence.
It seems Moreh is bearing most of the brunt of the conflict, he asserted.
Meanwhile, a memorandum signed jointly by KSO Moreh Block, Kuki Women's Union and Human Rights Moreh, and Moreh Private Schools Association was submitted to Union home minister Amit Shah through DC Tengnoupal demanding restoration of normal public life in Moreh border town.
It also apprised the Union home minister as to why Kuki-Zo people, especially in Moreh, are demanding removal of state force (police commando) from Moreh border town.
It also stated that deployment of additional central security forces may help in restoring normalcy to some extent but the most effective restoration lies in complete withdrawal of state force.