Our Correspondent
Imphal, Dec. 11 (EMN): Protesting the recent incident at Oting village in Nagaland’s Mon district, sit-ins were organised in Manipur on Saturday.
Holding placards and festoons which read, ‘We want Peace, We want Justice, Repeal AFSPA, Political solution is the only way, Repeal AFSPA, 1958, Union H/M must retract false statement, Oting and the Northeast demands it’, the sit-ins were organised under the aegis of district-level students bodies at district headquarters of Chandel, Senapati, Tamenglong and Ukhrul, sources said.
Participating in the sit-in at Senapati, 60 km north of Imphal, Senapati District Students’ Association leader condemned the Oting incident. Urging the authority to deliver justice to the victims of the incident, he called for repeal of AFSPA to ensure peace in Northeast.
The leader of All Naga Students’ Association Manipur informed that the Nagas living in Manipur organised protests to condemn the infamous massacre of civilians at Oting village. People of the land have been facing such atrocities and terror for so many years. He stated that killing innocent lives in the pretext of ‘mistaken identity’ is highly unacceptable.
Meanwhile Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh speaking to reporters while visiting the prominent personalities in diverse fields particularly the academicians as part of Vishesh Sampark Abhiyan said the AFSPA should be removed from the Northeast and Manipur.
Expressing the need to create a better understanding with the centre in this regard, Biren Singh said, “Prior to taking a decision, we need to talk, we need to discuss to reach an understanding.”
He further stated that the insurgency in the Northeast cannot be taken lightly. A political dialogue is required to bring the solution.
In the wake of the killing of 14 civilians by Armed forces in Mon district of Nagaland, people of the Northeast region and Chief Ministers of Nagaland and Meghalaya have been demanding for repeal of AFSPA from the region.
On Dec. 10, the Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma who is the national president of National People’s Party admitted that his party will continue to fight to ensure that the AFSPA is repealed as the Act has never been able to resolve the issue of insurgency in the Northeast.
The working president K Meghachadra of Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee, addressing a press conference in Imphal, demanded removal of AFSPA from the state by taking a state cabinet decision. He said the then congress government repealed the infamous Act from seven assembly segments located under the Imphal Municipal Council in 2004.