Meira Paibis take protest to Delhi

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Jun 19 : Meira Paibis from Manipur staged a peace demonstration at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi today seeking restoration of normalcy in the State and abrogation of Suspension of Operation (SoO) with Kuki militant groups.    
The peace demonstration was jointly organised by the Apunba Meira Paibi Lup (AMPL), Thongju, Imphal and Khwairamband Ema Keithel Joint Committee For Peace.
The protest was attended by more than a hundred Meira Paibis who have arrived in Delhi to raise their voices in the National capital.
Manipuri students and people from other professions also took part in the protest.
A memorandum was also submitted to the Prime Minister after the protest.
AMPL secretary Thoudam Inaomacha said that the tripartite SoO pact with Kuki militants should be abrogated immediately.
The Government of India must uphold the administrative and territorial integrity of Manipur at all costs and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) must be implemented in Manipur without any further delay to detect and deport illegal immigrants from Manipur, the Meira Paibis demanded
The provisions of Article 3 of the Indian Constitution that empowers the Parliament of India to alter the boundary of a State should be amended to exempt Manipur from the said provision, they urged the Prime Minister.
They maintained that the ongoing conflict is not between the Meiteis and the Kukis but with external elements which have been conspiring to push forward narrow and sectarian political agendas.
It is an attempt to cleanse out the minority Meetei population from Kuki dominated areas like Churachandpur, the border town of Moreh, Dolaithabi, Sugnu, and Serou etc, and it has been done successfully, the Meira Paibis pointed out.
However, in Imphal, the Kuki inhabited areas like New Checkon have been well protected by both the State and Central security forces.
The Meetei population in the periphery of the valley are constantly attacked by armed Kuki militants and are not safe anymore.
Many slogans like “Revoke SoO”, “No ethnic-based law in Manipur” and “No separate administration in Manipur” were raised during the protest demonstration.