Govt asked to stop incitation using dead bodies
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, August 04 2023: All Manipur United Clubs' Organisation (AMUCO) observed the 26th Manipur Integrity Day at Kwakeithel Akham Leikai community hall on Friday commemorating the huge public rally of August 4, 1997 against threat to the state's territory.

Speaking on the occasion, AMUCO president Ph Nando Luwang advised both state and central governments to initiate immediate and appropriate measures to stop some organisations from playing politics with dead bodies by planning mass burial with the ulterior motive to provoke another community.

Such provocative activities from a community, which is posing threat to integrity of Manipur, should not be allowed to continue further.

Observing how the government has been on the defensive mode, Nando said that any signs of timidity will only worsen the situation.

Instead, the government should em power its security forces to launch offensive to flush out the Kuki militants in order to resolve the crisis and restore peace, he said and further demanded that the government ensure rule of law in the hill areas by expediting deployment of state security forces in the hills stating that there is no meaning for having a government if it cannot enforce rule of law within its own jurisdiction.

Nando further said that the violence in the valley areas is a direct outcome of the hostile attitude and activities in the hills and as long as there is violence and armed assault from the hills, peace in the state will remain elusive.

He also asked the Kuki organisations to cease playing politics with dead bodies and asked them to bury the victims in their own locality.

Government should facilitate a conducive atmosphere for exchange of bodies between the two communities so that family members on either sides could carry out their own burial/cremation rituals.

The government should take up measures to deliver lifeless corpses of the Kuki victims lying in RIMS and JNIMS while at the same time retrieve bodies of over 20 Meeteis, who were killed in Kuki areas.

Such initiative would help in bringing ground for restoring peace.

Brazen display of bodies in ' the name of honour without allowing their family members to carry out their last rites, demanding corpses of Kuki communities from Imphal while hiding bodies of Meetei communities is an unacceptable act, he said while reiterating the objective of AMUCO to uphold the territorial integrity of the state at any cost.

As Kuki militants are standing against such objective, AMUCO has been and will take full responsibility in fighting such challenges, he added.

Nando further said that the ongoing crisis is not an issue where both communities are half right or half wrong.

People of the state are shouting for protection of the territorial integrity on one side while the other side is scheming to create division at the behest of drug cartels.

They are using automatic rifles to carry out their plan to disintegrate the state by launching attacks on villages in the peripheral areas, which is not natural anywhere in the world.

Solution to the present crisis lies in disarming the Kuki militants and the whole violence will stop the day the government disarm and restrain the Kuki militants.

In this crisis, the Kuki militants are the aggressor and the Meeteis defenders.

There is no narrative other than this.

People of the state will never allow their ultimate goal of bifurcating Manipur, he asserted.

Maintaining that Manipur is facing a serious threat from the Kuki militants, who are hell bent on disintegrating the small state, Nando called upon all the indigenous communities of the state to join hands in standing against the threat to the state's territorial integrity.

This is not an issue of protecting Meetei's interest or Meetei's religious site anymore.

It has become an issue that threatens the social fabric of the state, its territorial integrity and identity.

This is a threat against all indigenous communities, he maintained.

Apart from the Kuki militants under Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement, the state is also facing a serious threat from non-SoO militant groups sponsored by drug cartels from Myanmar.

They have transcended from simple political demand to the act of terrorism to forcefully bifurcate the state by any means necessary.

Today, on the occasion of the 26th Manipur Integrity Day, people of the state are reaffirming their resolution to uphold the territorial integrity and identity of the state, and all the indigenous communities should understand the gravity of the situation and join hands in fighting for the state.

Any differences in opinion or interest could be sorted out through peaceful dialogue as long as the state remains intact, he added.

The president further alleged that the way the Government of India is handling the situation for over three months shows its outlook towards Manipur and its hidden agenda.

State security forces are unable to enter the hill areas and yet the state government has been failing to use its might.

At the same time, the Government of India is also watching the whole situation silently without raising a single word against the unlawful activities of blocking state forces, which have numerous decorated officers, from carrying out duties in its own state, he added.

Poirei Leimarol Meira Paibi Apunba Manipur president Longjam Memchoubi and All Manipur Meitei Pangal Clubs' Organisation president FM Manawar Ali were also present on the occasion as presidium members.

Earlier, the participants offered floral tributes to Manipur Integrity Pillar located on the eastern side of Mapal Kangjeibung, Imphal.

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