Foreigners cannot be given resting place here, asserts UMO
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, August 02 2023:
Reacting sharply to the proposal to hold a mass burial pro-gramme at Torbung Bangla on August 3, the Universal Mothers' Organisation (UMO) has said that the funeral of the 'foreigners' who intruded illegally into the State and died amid the ethnic-conflict should be held at their native country.
Addressing the media at its office at Lamphelpat today, UMO president Moirangthem Sorojini said that they as mothers grieve the loss of lives on both sides due to the unprecedented clash between Meiteis and Kukis since May 3 .
That said, the UMO will never accept the proposed mass burial programme of slain Kukis at Torbung Bangla, she contended.
Saying that there are foreigners among the slain Kukis and the same has already been verified by the Government, Sorojini asked all concerned to send the mortal remains of the foreigners to their native country to hold their last rites.
"UMO will also extend all possible help to make sure their bodies reach their native places," she said and added that it would be very wrong to bury the foreigners in Manipur using brute force.
She further said that the land and resources of Manipur were not left behind by the ancestors of foreigners.
Urging the Government to send adequate security forces to Torbung Bangla to make sure the proposed burial programme doesn't take place, Sorojini cautioned that the conflict in Manipur will become a full-scale war if a graveyard of Kukis from another country is erected at Torbung Bangla.
To send the corpses of foreigners if they died outside their native country is only natural and not disregard, the UMO president clarified.
Stating that all people residing in Manipur need to stick together at this critical juncture to safeguard Manipur, Sorojini maintained that the movement to protect the State's integrity however will get deviated if every group and organisation have a separate agenda.
People at foothill areas and periphery of valley districts are uncertain about their future due to frequent attacks, Sorojini maintained and said that unity of people is needed to defeat the hostile Kuki militants.
The UMO president also appealed to all Meiteis to not sell even a piece of land to the Kukis.