Imphal, September 19, 2009: Pledging support to the agitation being spearheaded by the Apunba Lup, a conglomerate of various civil bodies in Manipur, and showing solidarity to the demands for the resignation of Chief Minister O Ibobi, befitting punishment to the police commandos involved in the July 23 shooting incident, ending state terrorism, repeal of AFSPA from the state and unconditional release of the leaders and volunteers of the Apunba Lup arrested by police, All Manipur Students� Union (AMSU) had decided to boycott classes in schools all over the state from September 9.The big question being asked by parents, guardians and concerned citizens after the AMSU's announcement is whether it is necessary to involve the young students in the ongoing agitation, especially after losing practically the whole month of August due to bandhs and curfews.

The indefinite class boycott called by the students' organization at a time when every one is talking about making educational institutions a free zone had been denounced by all those who spoke on the occasion of 4th Private School Day few days ago, observing that such indefinite class boycott called at a time when the annual examinations are due to be held, are objectionable and should be withdrawn.

State Education Minister, L Jayentakumar had appealed review of the indefinite class boycott stir launched by AMSU in a press conference on September 10.The minister had said that preventing students from going to school and stopping their study will bring nothing good in the society.

He observed that if students who are the future pillars of the nation miss out on their studies, they will find it difficult to compete with students of other states.

The appeal of the Education Minister for stopping the class boycott had been rejected by AMSU saying that development of human resources includes the entire state and not just students.

Reacting to the statement of the education minister on September 11, AMSU said that a peaceful and corruption free atmosphere is needed towards bringing a collective human resource development and added that the education minister should be joining the effort to bring improvement in the law and order situation in the state.

The Manipuri Students� Federation (MSF) on September 12 joined the movement being undertaken under the stewardship of the Apunba Lup by appealing to the people not to perceive the MSF in the wrong light when it takes recourse to some methods to intensify the people�s movement, such as paralyzing government offices, asking all private schools not to take tuition fees of the days when no classes were conducted because of curfew imposed by the state, asking all coaching/tuition centers to suspend their classes from September 14 as a show of solidarity to the people�s movement,calling upon employees of all government departments not to extend cooperation in government activities and calling upon students of law, medicine and technical courses to take active roles in the ongoing people�s movement.

It may be mentioned here that since New Delhi based magazine Tehelka came out with the damning sequence of photos showing the killing of a surrendered militant on July 23 in cold blood in the heart of Imphal, Manipur has been in turmoil.

The Apunba Lup has already made it more than clear that there would be no backing down from its demands, which include the resignation of the chief minister and punishment of all the guilty police commandos involved in the killing incident on July 23.Sit-in-protests, torch rallies and other forms of agitation has been going on without a break and now with two prominent student organizations, AMSU and MSF, coming out and stating their stand, the agitation is expected to intensify further.

How long this will continue is anyone�s guess, but Manipur today is a classic case of a state where everything that can go wrong has gone wrong while anything that can go right has not gone right.

Who is to be blamed for this? In the midst of the voices of protests, mock bombs, tear gas shells and rubber bullets, some voices can also be heard appealing to let better counsel to prevail, to continue to fight tooth and nail the injustices in the society, to fight any oppressive regime until it is overcome, but in ways that do not harm the society more than whatever harm is already done.

These voices has been appealing to all concerned to have vision that extend beyond the immediate conflict, so that after the dusts have settled down, after the present conflict has been resolved, the road ahead is still wide open and things do not have to start from scratch again.

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