Body demands probe
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, May 02 2023: People's Alliance for Peace and Progress, Manipur (PAPPM) has demanded the state government to conduct judicial enquiry into the conspiracy behind the violence and arson in Churachandpur town and Tuibong area on April 27 and 28 so as to identify the culprits and punish them as per the law of the land.

In a release, PAPPM president M Bobby Meitei stated that the recent violent agitation by certain tribal groups in Churachandpur exposed the disease Manipur, especially the Churachandpur district, is suffering from.

The agitators vandalised and destroyed public as well private properties in the name of protesting for not allowing new settlement in protected forest areas, he said, while adding that K Sonjang village which was evicted in February 2023 started resettlement inside the Churachandpur-Khoupum Protected Forest boundary only recently.

It is worth pondering how eviction of 15 temporary/Kutcha houses that were constructed only recently after encroaching into the protected forest area triggered such a violent agitation.

It is also a big question if such the agitation could have been possible without the support of vested interest groups, Bobby said, while claiming that it would not be wrong to assert that the agitation was orchestrated by the powerful group who had been indulging in poppy plantation, drug smuggling and deforestation for many years against the interest of the people of Manipur and India as a whole.

It is the strong stand taken by.

the present government under Chief Minister N Biren against poppy plantation, drug smuggling and deforestation and encroachment inside reserved and protected forests that has angered the powerful group, he observed, while concluding that violent agitation and arson in Churachandpur and Tuibong area was committed with the sole purpose of discouraging the government machinery from taking up action against the poppy plantation and the resultant deforestation.

Stating that the role played by an MLA is very dubious, he alleged that the legislator is responsible for fanning dissent among the public on the eviction drive and creating opportunity to the vested interest groups to protest in the name of eviction.

"It is also very wrong that some civil society organisations have targeted a whole community for the violence and arson.

We must blame only those people who were directly involved and not the whole community.

We would like to remind that various communities have been living together harmoniously and should continue to do so for a peaceful and progressive Manipur," Bobby said, while adding that majority of the people in different communities stand for a united and progressive Manipur.

However, the conspirators of the violent agitation and arson should not be left scot-free for the safe of a peaceful and progressive Manipur.

So, the government should constitute a judicial enquiry into the conspiracy behind the violence and arson in Churachandpur and Tuibong, the release demanded, while urging the people to support the demand.

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