Shillong, Aug 05: Thousands of people joined hands at a massive rally organized by the Catholic Association of Shillong (CAS) to urge the President of India Droupadi Murmu to intervene to end the ethnic violence in the State of Manipur.
Leaders of different political parties also participated during the rally which started from Madan Iewrynghep (Fire Brigade) to Don Bosco Square in Laitumkhrah. These included NPP leader and cabinet minister Ampareen Lyngdoh, Congress legislature party leader and opposition leader Ronnie V Lyngdoh, AITC state president and Nongthymmai legislator Charles Pyngrope, BJP MLA from South Shillong Sanbor Shullai, VPP MLA from North Shillong Adelbert Nongrum and others.
Students also displayed placards which read – “Stop the violence in Manipur”, “an eye for an eye only ends up making the world blind”, “peace today, peace tomorrow, let us not drown this world in sorrow!”, “Let us embrace the beauty of every culture and faith to create peace”, “stop war”
Church leaders of different denominations also took part in the prayer meeting held at the playground of St Anthony’s Higher Secondary School.
This was followed by the submission of the memorandum to the President of India through the Meghalaya Governor Phagu Chauhan.
“We mourn for the loss of humanity, the shattering of constitutional safeguards on the safety and dignity of all men, women and children, also the systematic attack on places of worships and institutions. We are also enraged to know that state officials have abused their powers to wreak havoc on the innocent communities in Manipur, with complete impunity,” CAS president JA Lyngdoh said in the memorandum.
“As the responsible citizens of this country, we demand that the perpetrators of this violence as well as the perpetrators of the apathetic system be duly punished. We seek your direct intervention to issue necessary directions to all law enforcement agencies responsible for the security of the people of this country and also various concerned commissions such as Human Rights Commission and other Commissions for the protection of women and children, both in the central and state level, to take suo motu on all the lawless situations/incidents that are pertaining with the State of Manipur,” he added.
Lyngdoh further wrote, “And we hope and believe that your concerned authority would not be silent on such atrocities that bleed this country and we also pray for your swift and immediate actions to be strong enough to send the message of peace and harmony by taking all the necessary steps to protect the lives and properties, restoring human dignity and upholding the principle of unity in diversity as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land, The Indian Constitution, Justice must be done and peace must prevail at all cost.”
The former minister also said that citizens of Meghalaya are deeply shocked, mourned and outraged by the despicable inhuman act of such heinous crimes that allows the daughters of this country to be stripped out of their clothes, physically and sexually abused, groped, slapped, paraded naked in public and gang-raped as we all witnessed in the social media.
He also slammed the people in authority especially the police for remaining as mere onlooker seated in the car watching the violence and allowed the savage mob to freely loot the modesty of the women and the brutal killing of the son (19 years old) and the father in the open street while attempting to rescue the victims (the daughters of this country) from such unimaginable plight.
Moreover, the violence is also a systematic attack on Christians where more than 249 churches within the Imphal Valley of the State of Manipur were vandalized and burned down to ashes, he said while adding that the hateful atrocities had affected all groups of people men, women and children and in addition the loss of private and public property.
“The State authority had miserably failed to protect the innocents and to uphold peace and justice in the state. We cannot but condemn these monstrous acts of violence, indignity, and brutality in the State of Manipur,” he added.
Secretary of the Khasi Jaintia Church Leaders’ Forum (KJCLF) Rev Dr Edwin H Kharkongor said, “We are participating and collaborating together to express and to show and convey our solidarity with all the victims of the violence and the carnage in Manipur, who have suffered and are undergoing terrible experiences. The whole world has seen this and it is something that is unthinkable and it is something that is unacceptable as a human community.”
“So in this rally we want to share and show to the people of Manipur and also to others specially the people in authority, who should take the responsibility in whatever way they have to take to end this violence and also for serious and right thinking members of the community to start and formulate and propose a process of people getting together in peace with hope and also on the way to forgiveness and reconciliation. We have to think for the sake of our children and for the sake of our future generation that peace should come and it should start now,” he asserted.
Meanwhile, people from Manipur, who are residing in Meghalaya, also took part in the rally.
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 to urge the President of India Droupadi Murmu to intervene to end the ethnic violence in the State of Manipur.){kind=link}