April 11, Delhi : The recent development of series of attacks on Muslim (Meetei Pangal) community in Manipur i.e. Iram Siphai Incident of 25th March, 2016 followed by another incident at Mayang Imphal where in Md. Farooq, Md. Saddam and Md. Zavir were beaten up mercilessly led to the death of 2 young boys.
Condemning the communal anger from a common platform, MSAD, DAMMS, NEFIS took the following stand
- We are against the systematic atrocities to the “Manipuri muslims/ Meitei Pangals”
- Government should not remain silent. It should intervene by taking responsibility
- We are against non-intervention by the Chief Minister of Manipur, Okram Ibobi.
An instantaneous collective protest by a large number of people from different communities of Manipur currently residing at various parts of Delhi took place at Jantar Mantar today. The spontaneous protest was held against the atrocities in Mayang Imphal and the communal colour that the incident has brought into our society and the denial of justice by the Govt.
Today’s incident was ignited by the denial of justice to the murderers of Young lives at Mayang Imphal. The police and the investigation agency has been seen to turn a blind eye.
No immediate or timely actions were taken by any law enforcing agency of the state or the central government about the communal clash. Even after the clash, no tangible action is seen to be taken up.
We question the silence of so called civil societies in Manipur over these last ten days. We collectively urge the media houses to maintain the professional ethics of journalism and to sensitize this entire issue.
We highly condemn and question the idea of cultural chauvinism and communal chivalry. Further, we are very critical of the future that might be built based upon this chivalry and chauvinism. This impunity to kill without question is somehow generated and sustained through this communal chivalry and Cultural chauvinism. For example, a person can simply be killed in name of ‘thief’ among the muslim/meetei pangals of Manipur. This notion of stigmatization and stereotypical prejudice that is being attached to the minorities like “san huranba”, “nisha chaba”, “guli chaba”, “gari huranba” is a political tool to subjugate and exploit the oppressed and marginalized.
The only possible future that this chivalry and chauvinism will bring is a rotten and retarded society in which the oppressed and the subjugated will be chased around like a blood hound chasing its hunt. The result as we can see is the communal violence attacking the collective conscience and social fabrics of the entire Manipur. With this, the integrity of Manipur is at stake.
After the spontaneous public uproar among the student community of Manipur, a memorandum was submitted to the Union Home Minister stating the same as above for immediate tangible action. The memorandum demanded to secure the lives and the properties of minority Muslims who can’t be secured by ineffective polarized state government and its forces; and to ensure justice to the deceased and the victims. This is to curb another large scale outbreak of communal riots.
Regards
Manipur Students’ Association Delhi (MSAD)
Delhi Association of Manipur Muslim Students (DAMMS)
North East Forum for International Solidarity (NEFIS)
