JSCC demands capital punishment
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, September 26 2023: The Joint Students Coordinating Com-mittee (JSCC) has catego- rically stated that peace and stability will remain elusive in Manipur until and unless all the Kuki terrorists who have been terrorising the people of Manipur including young students are completely neutralised.

Speaking to media persons at the Kwakeithel Thounaojam Leikai office of MSF today JSCC coordinator Leishangthem Lam- yanba said that people will accept there is rule of law in the State only when all those people who tortured and murdered the two students in cold blood are arrested and awarded capital punishment.

The way the two young students who were neither combatants nor village defence volunteers were held in captivity and murdered in cold blood was a most dastardly and bestial crime, he said.

If the Kuki terrorists are not neutralised, there is no guarantee that they (Kuki terrorists) may not target children and grandchildren of the Chief Minister, Lamyanba said.

If the large number of armed forces and the Security Advisor sent by the Government of India cannot apprehend the terrorists who murdered the students in cold blood, they have no right to stay here any longer, he asserted.

Asking if the rule of law is applicable only to the Meitei people, the JSCC coordinator decried the inaction of those people who have been perpetrating acts of terrorism.

If such acts of terrorism are not controlled urgently, the students may take a drastic decision to defend them- selves, he said.

The cold blooded murder of the two young students ought to be condemned by all communities including the Kukis, he said.

Lamyanba said that the students are prepared to launch a series of intense agitation against the cold blooded and ruthless murder of the two students until justice is delivered.

On behalf of the six student bodies which constitute the JSCC, he condemned in the strongest terms the brutal police crackdown on students during a protest agitation today in which more than 50 students were injured.

Had the State forces shown their 'valour' to the Kuki terrorists as they did to young students today, the people would have certainly appreciated the Government, he said.

The brutal crackdown on young students was not the manifestation of a benevolent Government, he added.

Meanwhile, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) Manipur has expressed profound dismay and sorrow over the heart-wrenching and brutal killing of two young students, Hijam Linthoingambi (17) and Phijam Hemanjit (20) .

The heinous act, perpetrated by unidentified militants, has sent shockwaves across the Nation, said a press release issued by ABVP Manipur.

Linthoingambi and Hemanjit were reported missing on July 6, 2023, and their families had been tirelessly searching for them since.

ABVP firmly stands in unwavering solidarity with the quest for justice in the cases of Hijam Linthoingambi and Phijam Hemanjit, as well as their grieving families, it said.

It urged both the State and Central Governments to take immediate and thorough measures to investigate this matter comprehensively, preferably through the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), to ensure that the perpetrators behind this heinous crime are swiftly brought to justice.

It also conveyed solidarity to the bereaved families.

In addition to condemning the oppressive actions taken by state forces against the student community who were protesting against this issue on September 26, 2023, ABVP appealed to the authorities to refrain from repeating such actions in the future.

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