IMPHAL, June 10: The Ninth Arambam Somorendro Memorial Lecture was delivered by Professor Kamarulzaman Askandar on the theme ‘Nation and State Building, Self Determination and Conflict Resolution in Southeast Asia’ in the MDU Hall on Tuesday.
The Lecture was organised by Arambam Somorendro Trust.
Dr L Debabrata Roy, president of Elders Council Centre for Organization, Research and Education, Imphal presided over the lecture while Pradip Phanjoubam, Group Editor of the Imphal Free Press and Dr Immanuel Zarzosang Varte, Assitant professor, Tribal Studies, IGNTU, Regional Campus, Manipur and who is also an executive member of CORE, Manipur were the discussants of the Memorial Lecture.
Speaking at the function, Kamurulzaman Askandar said that it was his privilege and honour to be in Manipur, and to participate in the fourteenth death anniversary of the late Arambam Somorendro. He said that he is paying his respect by delivering the Memorial Lecture.
He further said that Arambam Somorendro should be admired for his conviction and determination to bring justice and dignity to the people of Manipur and North East India.
He added that people of Manipur and NE India should believe in his ideals and follow in his footsteps so that people can have a better tomorrow.
“The next generation of Manipur should honour his legacy by believing in his ideals and further continue the struggle that he had started”, Professor Askandar said.
Immanuel Zarzosang Varte said when it comes to national strength; people should set a common goal or common identity so that the issues and problems will subside.
The main cause of the conflict between communities is because every community wants to dominate the others, he stressed.
Further asserting that people do not try to bring solutions to conflicts but only manage the war, he said that it was high time that we should analyse ways to bring solution to the conflicts, think out of the box and must show willingness to compromise and understanding between the communities.
People should learn to confront the problems and must have thorough knowledge of the problems, Varte added.
Pradip Phanjoubam speaking as one of the discussants added that the lecture has thrown light on some of the crucial issues of Southeast Asia, which otherwise were not aware to the scholars of Manipur. Some of the conflicts in Southeast Asia which are assumed to be over with the decolonisation process have remained to be seen and studied. The issues that the Memorial Lecture has touched could have many parallels with the present situation in Manipur, Phanjoubam added.
The Memorial Lecture concluded with a cultural show in the evening with performance by Koi and other groups.