IMPHAL,April 20(EMN): People of Khurai area in Manipur’s Imphal East district paid homage to the victims of World War II bombing at Khurai Chingangbam Mandop during the 74th commemorative function organized at the historic mandop on Thursday.
The function was attended by various relatives of those victims who lost their lives during the unfortunate incident. Sahitya Academy upadhi awardee and writer Khuraijam Nimaicharan and II World War researcher Yumnam Rajeshwar and committee members of the Khurai Chingangbam Mandop Bombing Disaster were among the day’s gathering.
Japanese air-strikers dropped bomb at Imphal for the first time on May 10, 1941 during the Second World War II. Although the first bombing did not cause much casualty in terms of lost of human lives and properties, the second bombing that took place on April 20 of 1943 at Khurai Thangjam Leikai fell on a Mandop, popularly known as Chingangbam Mandop where a large number of people were congregating for a religious feasting.
The attack resulted in loss of lives of more than 100 people. But so far only few of them were identified. The total number of victims’ name which was listed at the historic mandop was just 28. However researcher Yumnam Rajeshwar during the day’s observation submitted names of 69 victims which were collected in his ongoing research, to the committee members.
Besides sharing their feeling about the then incident, Nimaicharan and committee members also led the people in paying floral tribute to those who have lost their lives in the unfortunate incident. A traditional utsav was organised at the end of the observation. Most of the speakers observed that every effort should be made for preservation of any historical places. Imphal Battle which was termed as the most fierce battle involving the Britishers during the historic World War II. Recalling the historic event, a 3 month-long commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Imphal (World War II) was once organized in Imphal in 2014 in presence of top leaders of Manipur and diplomats from Britain, United States, Australia and Japan.
