Imphal, November 06: Despite acknowledging its moral responsibility in the incident in which two youths were injured in a bomb explosion during jungle clearing carried out by the villagers of Sorbung under the alleged threat of Assam Rifles in the aftermath of the KYKL ambush on its convoy, the proscribed outfit has categorically stated that the Assam Rifles is the real culprit who should be held responsible for the casualty.

In a statement, deputy secretary publicity and research of the outfit Apabi Mangang castigated the Assam Rifles for using the villagers as forced labourers to clear the jungle in the aftermath of the October 31 ambush on a convoy of Ist Assam Rifles along the road between Sorbung and Kashung which left three personnel including a Major and a Havildar killed and 10 others injured.

It is against the international law to use any person as forced labourer, the statement said, adding that the unfortunate incident could have been avoided if the Assam Rifles had not forced the villagers to clear the jungle.

The statement asserted that a day after the attack, officials of the Assam Rifles summoned all the villagers to their camp and threatened them with dire consequences if they failed to clear the bushes on either side of the road for a distance of 5/6 kms.

Consequently, on November 2, around 140/ 150 villagers from Sorbung village set out for jungle clearing.

None of the villagers were paid for their service.

During the course of the jungle clearing one of the youths identified as Ngathingpam Mangkung who is just 17 years old and studying in class IX accidentally struck on an undefused bomb with his dao leading to the explosion.

Besides, Ngathigpam, two other youths identified as 14-year old Yuivah Sarang who is studying in class VI and 18-year old Mahai Mangkung sustained injuries.

Ngathingpam is still undergoing treatment in a serious condition.

Since the unfortunate incident occurred after the ambush, the Assam Rifles has been trying to mislead the people.

But the truth is that even if the KYKL has connection with the incident, it is not directly responsible for the causation.

The incident occurred is a temporal precedence without direct and necessary causal connection with KYKL.

It is to avoid casualty on innocent villagers that the ambush had been laid 4 kms away from the village, the outfit explained, adding that there is no question of laying land mines in the area as KYKL is totally against using victim-activated device and in a strong advocate of ongoing global movement against use of land mine.

Whether it was the undefused bomb left behind by the KYKL cadres during the attack or have been deliberately placed by the Assam Rifles to implicate the outfit can be known only after a thorough investigation, the statement added.

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