Imphal, June 8: Condemning the police action to a group of tribal protestors who were opposing the passing of the 3 Bills passed by the Manipur government in front of Manipur Bhavan,Sardar Patel Marg, New Delhi yesterday evening, the Joint Action Committee formed against the 3 ILPS related Bills and the Outer Manipur Tribals’ Forum (OMTF) has called a 24-hour Total Shutdown on all tribal areas of Manipur starting from the midnight of June 8. The Total shutdown called was resolved during an emergency meeting held today morning. Outer Manipur Tribals’ Forum (OMTF) is an apex body of the Hmar Inpui, Mizo People Convention, Thadou Inpi, United Naga Council and Zomi Council.
The meeting vehemently condemned the incident that happened in front of the Manipur Bhawan, New Delhi terming it as unprecedented use of excessive force against unarmed peaceful tribal protestors.
In a press statement the JAC appealed the tribal people of Manipur to observe the shutdown to show solidarity and support to the tribal brothers and sisters in Delhi.
Following the total shut down the JAC also appealed to precede daily sit-in protest at Salphate Pumbuk, Hiangtam Lamka. Earlier, the sit-in-protest was decided to staged from June 9.
The JAC said that medical services and emergencies, airport pickup and drop, electricity department (including prepaid recharge outlets), telecom service, water supply, ongoing school/college exams, pre-planned conferences/seminars and weddings shall be exempted during the total shut down protest.
The JAC statement said that the peaceful protest outside the Manipur Bhawan took a violent turn last night after the Manipur Rifles personnel posted there started assaulting the protestors physically. This was followed by an unexpected ambush of lathi charge from the Delhi Police personnel without prior warning, in gross violation of the standard operating procedures, resulting in a number of tribal civilian casualties, withc uts and bruises from head to toe, without any differentiation being made between men and women protestors, the statement added.
“Many tribal women including four young mothers were indiscriminately thrashed, beaten, slapped, kicked and pulled by their hairs; two young women were even groped and molested by the Delhi Police! Many men were picked up and beaten by the Police even as they were leaving the protest area peacefully”, the JAC said.
It said the Chanakyapuri Police Station had detained around 60 individuals including 21 women since last night for around 12 hours.
Demanding clarification for detaining women protestor at night the JAC said that even the injured were not spared either, as they were dragged back to police custody from the hospitals without giving them a much needed rest.
The statement further said that after the brutality and raw force exerted by the Manipur State Forces on tribal protestors resulted in the gruesome death of the nine Tribal Martyrs in Lamka last year, it is indeed disheartening to witness a similar senseless, vicious and discriminatory action on the part of the Delhi Police.
The JAC asked, “why democratic and peaceful protestors were dealt with such extreme violence while Chief Minister Ibobi Singh and his cohorts who openly confess their allegiance to CorCom, an umbrella of banned Meitei militant groups, were heavily guarded while they should have be arrested and booked under the appropriate law! Let not the Union government be swayed and misled by the dirty communal politics of Manipur; and let the tribals no longer be seen as second class citizens with lesser human rights or easy victims of filthy political violence perpetrated by larger communities in Manipur as well as the national capital, New Delhi.”
