Newmai News Network
Imphal | March 18
The All Tribal Students' Union, Manipur (ATSUM) issued clarion call to all the tribals to desist from "internecine violence that has the potential to spark off communal conflagrations which nobody wants but instead collectively strive for the restoration of peace and reconciliation." It stated this while condemning the violence in Chassad village in the strongest possible terms.
In a press statement issued by its information secretary Micah Kamei, the apex tribal student body of Manipur expressed that "it is extremely unfortunate that, at a time when all the tribal civil societies as well as the common people are relentlessly buckling down to expedite the hard-earned camaraderie that could be regained after years of turmoil from those dark days of the 90s' but somewhere somehow desperados, driven by narrow interest, pops up and shattered the hearts of the peace-loving common people".
According to ATSUM, it is worth recounting that the hill people, cutting across the barriers, had gone through sufferings of an unimaginable degree "because our predecessors" had failed to appreciate the beauty of peace and its significance for a progressive society.
The student body then said that it was the fortitude and unrelenting sacrifices of the past leaders, prayers of the churches and the realization of the futility of strife that peace became a reality. But, the ATSUM statement said, the healing process was tediously slow for the scars of the internecine clashes were not easy to be obliterated from the minds of the people. What had happened in Chassad village should be a wake-up call and "We should even strive harder so that such incidents do not recur again the future.”
With the objectives of assuaging the pains of the unfortunate victims, ATSUM team visited also Chassad village on March 17 with rice bags, potatoes, dal, salt and other consumable commodities, ATSUM informed. The team met both sides and exhorted them to reconcile and forgive one another, in the spirit of brotherhood and oneness, it further said.
