Manipur News – Page 14571 – www.manipur.org/news

MPCC celebrates 129th foundation day of INC

IMPHAL, December 28: Berating at the Congress party is wrong and unethical, said Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh today while celebrating the Indian National Congress`™ 129th foundation day at the

IMPHAL, December 28: Berating at the Congress party is wrong and unethical, said Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh today while celebrating the Indian National Congress`™ 129th foundation day at the Manipur Congress Bhavan, BT Road, Imphal.

He said the Congress is a secular party and gives space to each and every community.

The Indian Constitution is a product of the party`™s leaders, he said.

The party acknowledges the democratic rights like freedom of expression, religion which are included in the Indian Constitution, the State Chief Minister said.

What the Congress has achieved for the country during the last 60 years is something which every political party in the country should acknowledge, he continued.

The party has put the country in a level which is equal to the super powers in the world and has helped increased the Gross Domestic Product of the country, the Chief Minister said while adding that it is not the BJP or any other party which has helped in shaping the country.

India is today enjoying the fruits of what Congress had sown many years ago, Ibobi asserted before rebuking parties which have been criticising the Congress in recent times.

Criticising a Congressman is acceptable if he has done something wrong, but pointing fingers at the party is unacceptable, the Chief Minister asserted.

He further called for unity among the people of the State irrespective of hills or valley and to stand united for a stronger and more developed State.

Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam who is also the president of the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee said the day is observed throughout the nation.

The INC is one of the oldest parties recognised in the entire world, he said.

There are many politicians who always make false promises to the people, he said. There are many who have singlehandedly brought down political parties like the MSCP, Federal Party of Manipur and the MPP rather than taking them forward, Gaikhangam said without naming anyone. However, the Congress continues to stand strong till date, he added.

The 129th foundation of Indian National Congress observation was also attended by party MLAs, block Congress committee members and other party workers.

As part of observance each executive members of block congress committee were felicitated with certificates and a gift.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/mpcc-celebrates-129th-foundation-day-of-inc/

Corruption increasing drastically under Congress in State, alleges BJP chief

IMPHAL, December 28: Nearly three lakhs enrolment forms were taken for the BJP membership and the total number of members of the BJP, Manipur Pradesh will be announced in April

IMPHAL, December 28: Nearly three lakhs enrolment forms were taken for the BJP membership and the total number of members of the BJP, Manipur Pradesh will be announced in April 2015 after accurately counting the numbers, stated BJP Manipur Pradesh chief Thounaojam Chaoba today at a one-day awareness campaign on mass enrolment of the party at Imphal East District at the Ima Lai Khurembi Mandop, Khurai Thongam Leikai near Babu Hotel organised by the BJP Khurai Mandal.

During the campaign, the pramukh and co-pramukh of State Enrolment Mission, district president BJP Imphal east and district enrolment in-charge of BJP Imphal East and other senior party leaders also attended the function along with the State BJP president.

Chaoba further said anyone can enrol within March 31 next year as the BJP is targeting to overthrow the Congress party from the state in the 2017 Assembly elections and to make the BJP the political party with the highest membership among democratic countries.

Alleging that the Congress party both at the State and Centre didn`™t do anything for the up-liftment and development of the state, he said t corruption has increased drastically under the Congress government led by Okram Ibobi Singh.

During the tenure of the Congress government at the Centre, the prices of petrol, gas, diesel and other essential commodities increased rapidly but after the BJP assumed power at the Centre the prices of essential commodities have decreased and the economy of the country is back on track, he said, adding this is the main difference between the Congress led government and the BJP government.

He further said that the objective of BJP is uplifting poor people and create a prosperous society whereas the Congress was concerned about consuming everything for its own welfare without thinking for the people and the country. The BJP also believes in secularism, he stressed.

Film Institute in Manipur: Need of the hour

By Bobby Wahengbam Sensing the urgency of formal education and training in film making, the Manipur Government under the able- leadership of the Chief Minister is trying its best in

By Bobby Wahengbam

Sensing the urgency of formal education and training in film making, the Manipur Government under the able- leadership of the Chief Minister is trying its best in setting up a Film and Television of India in Manipur. The central government is looking forward to set up its third institute in any of the North Eastern states where Manipur is a strong contender. Assam has already established its own state film institute (Jyoti Chitraban) at Guwahati. So, common sense says that Manipur is the ideal place for such an establishment and calls no controversy. Force landing of the same in any unfertile environment will invite resentment from the rest of other states. So, one can only zero it on to Manipur for a `win win situation`™ as it will benefit all the parties and strike at the core of the objective of the Institute.

The main objective of a Film Institute is to groom quality students who can strike a chord in world cinema and to provide professionals and skill technicians to the existing film industry. Learning the craft and technicalities is not enough to get the desired goal. The rich tradition of Theatre ( of Ratan Thiyam, Kanhailal, Premchand, Lokendro, Ibotombi etc etc.,), Dance (both classical and colourful dances of so many ethnic groups), other art forms, traditions such as Natsankritan and cultures like Laiharaoba, religions and many others will help the students immensely in the endeavour of great artiste.

Repertory of versatile, qualitative and dedicated theatre and film artistes are always in standby whenever the students require. It would not be possible for the students and the authority to call in artiste from outside for each and every project work. On top of that technicians are always available to assist the students. There are Universities which are available for assistance and help of any kind of research. A good director knows history, psychology, sociology, philosophy, religion and other subjects. Though one can produce a sensible film only by intuition and get recognition but he can`™t be part of academic discourses.

Manipur is strategically located which can be connected easily by Air and by road. It is `gate way`™ to the South East Asia. R K Nimai, during Film Convention, MFDC, Nov, 2014, reiterated that South Asia market could be catered back through the film institute in Manipur. As a matter of fact, films can be a trade item in the `Act East Policy`™ and India would be able to occupy a privileged space in the transaction.

The institute is expected to get Manipur back to the world cinema which is now in a rough path caught in a time-warp. The world does not exist as we ourselves are the world totally cut off from the changing dynamics prevailing around. The Institute will get back the world to us. It can also bail us out from the pedestrian fare we are synonymous with at the moment for lack of aesthetic sensibility. Such institute normally has lots of programmes and short period crash courses for the benefit of the film industry on top of the regular main courses which are difficult to get through as intake is normally 8 students per discipline. The discourse in the institute will provide mileage to our fast learner professionals opening unlimited avenues. We have talents in abundance but unguided.

Luckily our government is sensible enough to support this project with open arms. Land and other basics have already been earmarked. The government is optimistic and firm on establishing the institute that the state cabinet has approved of State Film City close to the site of the proposed institute. Wish the film policy can see the light of the day! Now, I am convinced that the state government has the capacity to open its own film institute with its talents pool even if the proposed Film and Television Institute of India is hijacked by powerful lobby from our deserved hands.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/film-institute-in-manipur-need-of-the-hour/

Too early to jump into any conclusion on skull recovery: Gaikhangam

IMPHAL, December 28: The skulls and skeletons recovered from a construction site inside the old Tombisana High School compound will be examined by the Forensic experts soon, deputy Chief Minister

IMPHAL, December 28: The skulls and skeletons recovered from a construction site inside the old Tombisana High School compound will be examined by the Forensic experts soon, deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam who is also the Home minister of the State told media persons today.

He said it is too early to jump into any conclusion regarding the recovery of the bones and human skulls.

Gaikhangam who is also the president of the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee was addressing a media conference in his office at the Congress Bhavan after the 129th foundation day celebration of the Indian National Congress.

He said the age of the skeletons and the period of their burial could be ascertained through advance scientific tools like carbon dating.

In order to help further in the investigating, post mortem examination of the skulls and bones recovered, Gaikhangam said adding.

Act East Policy And The Behavioural Collapse In Manipur

By Amar Yumnam The Government of India`™s policy towards the North East has undergone a dramatic behavioural transformation on the external front. Both the Prime Minister and the External Affairs

By Amar Yumnam

The Government of India`™s policy towards the North East has undergone a dramatic behavioural transformation on the external front. Both the Prime Minister and the External Affairs Minister of the post-UPA government (read Narendra Modi and Sushma Swaraj) are talking of the development issues, challenges and opportunities of the North East while visiting the neighbouring countries of the South East and the East Asia. This is marked contrast to the pretentions of the Congress-led governments and the bluffs under the Look East Policy. This is an issue I have dwelt on in this column quite many times post-the Tokyo Declaration of Modi and Abe of August this year.

While there are external manifestations portraying changes favourable to development instead of the purely militaristic framework and approaches, the scenario in the home front is still dark, and particularly so in the context of Manipur. First, there is no governance application of mind on how to dovetail the development responses of the province to the unfolding challenges of the Act East Policy. The administration fundamentally needs to move much beyond the Thikadar Mentality wherein one looks only for the schemes which would come from without and scope for the contract work possibilities therein. Well, it is a general feature in regions of poor regulations and weak governance that the people in the decision-making positions look at governance predominantly from this perspective. For the public it is as if what Rousseau wrote in The Discourse on the Origin of Inequality: `All ran headlong to their chains, in hopes of securing their liberty; for they had just wit enough to perceive the advantages of political institutions, without experience enough to enable them to foresee the dangers`¦ Such was, or may well have been, the origin of society and law, which bound new fetters on the poor, and gave new powers to the rich; which irretrievably destroyed natural liberty, eternally fixed the law of property and inequality, converted clever usurpation into unalterable right, and, for the advantage of a few ambitious individuals, subjected all mankind to perpetual labour, slavery, and wretchedness.` No we cannot allow such a situation to prevail and sustain in Manipur. There is a fundamental contract between the people and the government for attending to the needs for general welfare. As James Buchanan writes in his celebrated Calculus of Consent the collective choice responsibility is given to the government because: `The attainment of consent is a costly process, however, and a recognition of this simple fact points directly toward an “economic” theory of constitutions. The individual will find it advantageous to agree in advance to certain rules (which he knows may work occasionally to his own disadvantage) when the benefits are expected to exceed the costs. The “economic” theory that may be constructed out of an analysis of individual choice provides an explanation for the emergence of a political constitution from the discussion process conducted by free individuals attempting to formulate generally acceptable rules in their own long-term interest. It is to be emphasized that, in this constitutional discussion, the prospective utility of the individual participant must be more broadly conceived than in the collective-choice process that takes place within defined rules`¦`¦. The areas of human activity that the reasonably intelligent individual will choose to place in the realm of collective choice will depend to a large extent on how he expects the choice processes to operate`. The government of any day is supposed to work within this framework and keeping the expectations of the people in mind. I would like the prevailing provincial government to remember what Jon Rawls has said in his classic A theory of Justice that `each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with a similar liberty for others` and inequality is to be accepted only in so far as it means to promote the `greatest benefit of the least advantaged,`

Second, the security forces (particularly the Assam Rifles) need to be taught how to perform their functions in the context of the changing scenario wherein the border trade would be transformed into larger relationships across neighbouring countries. I say in particular because of the continuous presence of this force and my own experience with the. Only this week I was in Moreh and Tamu. Just before reaching Moreh, there is a check-post at Khudengthabi of the AR 24. Here I came across a young officer in civil dress who is completely illiterate about the changes under way, and absolutely poor about the organisational skills in public domain. But his poverty of organisational skill and knowledge was coupled by his arrogance in full bloom. This has been a continuing character of the Assam Rifles all along in this route.

Third, we need to be fully aware of the functional capabilities of the road linking Imphal with Moreh. The section from Pallel to Moreh could be good tourist roads. But it can in no way perform the role of attending to the economic functions of highways with hugely heavy vehicles with supersized manufactured products.

Fourth, the very quality of Moreh needs improvement. It is a dirty place with no urban characteristics. There is no point waiting for the demand to create supply in this context. Rather it should be a case where supply precedes demand.

Fifth, just across the border, the overall quality of a urban centre is richer. But there is a hitch here. The auto-services on the Tamu side indulge in collective cheating and extortion. It would be in the long-run interest of Myanmar herself to attend to this issue.

In the end, we would appeal to the government of land by quoting to what Hobbes has said: `A commonwealth is said to be instituted, when a multitude of men do agree, and covenant, every one, with every one,`¦`¦ the right to present the person of them all (that is to say, to be their representative)

Bones of Contention

The discovery of human skulls and skeletons at a construction site of the government inside the campus of the Tombisana High School must have come to all as a shock

The discovery of human skulls and skeletons at a construction site of the government inside the campus of the Tombisana High School must have come to all as a shock but not surprise. Stories of people, mostly young men, who disappeared after being picked up allegedly by security forces, have been around too long in the state for such a revelation not to happen sometime or the other. Quite obviously, the needle of suspicion is on the security forces again, and as one report indicated, the school campus served as a make shift barrack for the security forces a few decades back. This fact should already be a very helpful clue on which the direction of investigation should orient for a start. The years that the school campus was used as a camp of the security forces can easily be determined from the government`™s record books, and if this time tallies with the age of the bones since burial, it should already be a clinching circumstantial evidence of the guilt of whoever occupied the campus at the time. We are not forensic experts, but thanks to the information age, even as laymen most of us are aware to a good extent the advances made in this field. Computer technologies are available today which can reconstruct the models of faces of people who died decades and even centuries ago from the skulls recovered. There are very interesting videos available on the internet on such cases, including one in which not just the looks but even the economic status of an early European immigrant family in America who were killed in a clash with Native Americans were determined by such computer modelling technology from available skulls and bones.

If this could be done here, it may even be possible to see which living persons these bones once belonged to but is unlikely such cutting edge technologies are already here. Even then there should be other ways of determining the histories of these mysterious skulls and skeletons discovered. Other than conclusions drawn from forensic studies of these bones, there could also be tell tale artefacts in the rubbles at the digging site such as a ring, a watch, a pen that putative relatives of the unfortunate souls might remember. This being the case, the demand by Families of Involuntarily Disappeared Association, Manipur, FIDAM that digging and construction work at the site of the discovery be stopped immediately should be given serious and urgent heed by the government. It is a surprise the police have not acted on its own to seal off the place the minute the bones were found. The digging, when it resumes, must be with a forensic mission, and this must continue until such a time the case is resolved comprehensively. Thereafter, normal construction work of the government can be given the green signal again.

It is too early to begin making allegations, although the circumstance does indicate these are some of the people made to disappear after arrest by the security forces. Depending on the findings from this case, those who have always believed in the benignity of the democratic Indian State and doubted custodial killing is a norm in the nation`™s counterinsurgency programmes, despite numerous court rulings establishing individual cases of death in custody, may have to change their stances. Even if they say these are collateral damage, it would still amount to an admission of the crime, for this is only another way of asking for exoneration from penal action on the legally lame plea the acts were nationalism driven. But amidst the cold calculus of political economy, what often has ended up forgotten are the unimaginable sufferings of individual families at losing their loved ones, most of them picked up on mistaken identity, in such an inhuman manner. There are two categories of custodial killings. In one, captives with established insurgent links are killed in supposed encounters, for various reasons, including for the prizes to be won for their elimination. This is bad enough, but the other is simply unthinkable. Innocent youths are picked up on mistaken identity, subjected to inhuman tortures, and then when their innocence is realised, to avoid legal retribution, made to disappear. Those bones found recently are likely to be of the latter variety.

Leader Writer: Pradip Phanjoubam

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/bones-of-contention/

Maram Student`s Union felicitates MCSCC successful candidate

IMPHAL, December 28: The second best performer, Rang David Kung, among candidates belonging to the Maram Communities who have cleared the Manipur Civil Service Examination was felicitated at the Sangkungmei

A small felicitation function was jointly organised by the Kagung-lui and Maram Student`™s Unions.

At the sidelines of the function, Maram Students`™ Union president Pungdi P Celestine said the small community of Maram has produced two successful candidates in the MPSC examination including Rang David Kung who recently cleared the MPSC examination, 2014.

Further congratulating the second best performer, he said the community hopes that Rang David Kung must render service to the people through his prestigious post and inspire the younger generation to follow in his footsteps.

Now, he doesn`™t belong only to the Maram tribe but to the whole of Manipur and must serve the State in the best of his abilities, said Pungdi P Celestine.

During the function, people of his native village performed a ritual song traditionally sung while achieving the highest victory `Sachyii-siiha (Fast of Merit)` while students presented melodious songs to celebrate his successfully clearing the MPSC examination, 2014.

Chairman of Willong circle, Joshep said such felicitations was organised rarely in the Maram areas so the function was the most important which was in celebration of one of their own child holding a key post of the Manipur government.

Advising the younger generation that only hard work can help cleared prestigious exams like MPSC, UPSC or any combined service examinations in the future to bring pride to their communities, he said if you become successful after working hard such felicitations will be organised frequently.

People of the Maram Tribe do like to organise such facilitation programmes every year and an increasing number of successful candidates belonging to the community, he added.

Act East Policy And The Behavioural Collapse In Manipur – KanglaOnline

Act East Policy And The Behavioural Collapse In ManipurKanglaOnlineWhile there are external manifestations portraying changes favourable to development instead of the purely militaristic framework and approaches, the scenario in the home front is still…

Act East Policy And The Behavioural Collapse In Manipur
KanglaOnline
While there are external manifestations portraying changes favourable to development instead of the purely militaristic framework and approaches, the scenario in the home front is still dark, and particularly so in the context of Manipur. First, there …

Film Institute in Manipur: Need of the hour – KanglaOnline

Film Institute in Manipur: Need of the hourKanglaOnlineSensing the urgency of formal education and training in film making, the Manipur Government under the able- leadership of the Chief Minister is trying its best in setting up a Film and Television o…

Film Institute in Manipur: Need of the hour
KanglaOnline
Sensing the urgency of formal education and training in film making, the Manipur Government under the able- leadership of the Chief Minister is trying its best in setting up a Film and Television of India in Manipur. The central government is looking …

Manipur: 8 human skulls found in abandoned school complex – Hindustan Times

NDTV

Manipur: 8 human skulls found in abandoned school complex
Hindustan Times
Various social organisations including Families of Involuntary Disappeared Association Manipur (FIDAM) have urged chief minister O Ibobi Singh to pass order for stopping the digging of the complex ground and order a judicial inquiry into the incident.
Skeletons in Manipur’s Cupboard: Does AFSPA Need a Rethink?NDTV
Human skulls found in Manipur school complexChandigarh Tribune

all 45 news articles »

NDTV

Manipur: 8 human skulls found in abandoned school complex
Hindustan Times
Various social organisations including Families of Involuntary Disappeared Association Manipur (FIDAM) have urged chief minister O Ibobi Singh to pass order for stopping the digging of the complex ground and order a judicial inquiry into the incident.
Skeletons in Manipur's Cupboard: Does AFSPA Need a Rethink?NDTV
Human skulls found in Manipur school complexChandigarh Tribune

all 45 news articles »

Skeletons in Manipur’s Cupboard: Does AFSPA Need a Rethink? – NDTV

Skeletons in Manipur’s Cupboard: Does AFSPA Need a Rethink?
NDTV
Eight human skulls and other skeletal remains have been found at a construction site in Imphal city. The site was occupied by the paramilitary forces, raising fears among many that the skeletal remains may have come from victims of extra-judicial killings.

and more »

Skeletons in Manipur's Cupboard: Does AFSPA Need a Rethink?
NDTV
Eight human skulls and other skeletal remains have been found at a construction site in Imphal city. The site was occupied by the paramilitary forces, raising fears among many that the skeletal remains may have come from victims of extra-judicial killings.

and more »

Eight human skulls found in school complex in Manipur – Kaumudi Online

Eight human skulls found in school complex in ManipurKaumudi OnlineIMPHAL: Eight human skulls were found in an abandoned school complex, which was occupied by central paramilitary forces during the peak of insurgency in early 80s, in Imphal West distri…

Eight human skulls found in school complex in Manipur
Kaumudi Online
IMPHAL: Eight human skulls were found in an abandoned school complex, which was occupied by central paramilitary forces during the peak of insurgency in early 80s, in Imphal West district of Manipur. The skulls were found from the complex of Tombisana …

Eight human skulls found from a school in Manipur – The Indian Express

NDTVEight human skulls found from a school in ManipurThe Indian ExpressVarious social organisations including Families of Involuntary Disappeared Association Manipur (FIDAM) have urged Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh to pass order for stopping the digging…

NDTV

Eight human skulls found from a school in Manipur
The Indian Express
Various social organisations including Families of Involuntary Disappeared Association Manipur (FIDAM) have urged Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh to pass order for stopping the digging of the complex ground and order a judicial inquiry into the incident.
Skeletons tumble out of Manipur closetTimes of India
Human skulls found in Manipur school complexChandigarh Tribune

all 24 news articles »

Eight human skulls found in school complex in Manipur – Daily News & Analysis

Daily News & Analysis

Eight human skulls found in school complex in Manipur
Daily News & Analysis
Various social organisations including Families of Involuntary Disappeared Association Manipur (FIDAM) have urged Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh to pass an order for stopping the digging of the complex ground and order a judicial inquiry into the incident.
Skeletons tumble out of Manipur closetTimes of India
8 Human Skulls Found in Imphal at Site Held by Paramilitary Forces EarlierNDTV
Discovery of human skulls and skeletons : FIDAM demands halt to digging …E-Pao.net

all 16 news articles »

Daily News & Analysis

VDF personnel rubbishes `shot himself` report

IMPHAL, December 27: `I did not shoot myself and why would I do that?` Village Defence Force personnel Chandam Ishworjit asked media persons at the Shija Hospital and Research Institute

IMPHAL, December 27: `I did not shoot myself and why would I do that?` Village Defence Force personnel Chandam Ishworjit asked media persons at the Shija Hospital and Research Institute where he is recuperating after allegedly shooting himself with his service weapon while on duty at the Lamsang Police Station.

Chandam Ishworjit Singh, 23 son of C Indrakumar Singh of Sanjenbam Mayai Leikai, Imphal West was reported to have shot himself while on duty at the sentry post of the Lamsang Police Station on November 27 around 6:30 pm, although his family and the JAC formed in connection with the incident have claimed otherwise.

A small team of media persons visited Ishworjit today at the hospital. Although he is still bedridden, he had recovered considerably well and talked without much problem.

Rubbishing earlier reports of his trying to kill himself, Ishworjit said he was shot from behind as is evident from his injury.

He said he was talking with his wife when the incident happened.

Ishworjit said, the safety lock of his issued Self Loading Rifle which was loaded with five rounds was on and he had placed it at a corner of his post while he was speaking on his mobile.

He said he is recuperating at the moment and the doctors have also said that he will be ready for discharge very soon.

Such a speedy recovery as his would not be possible to someone who wanted to kill himself, Ishworjit said adding that he managed to stay alive with the support of his wife, parents, friends and locals.

`However, my family has no other option other than selling off our homestead to pay off the hospital expense which is about Rs 4 lakhs,` he added.

Meanwhile, supporters and members of the Sanjenbam Meira Paibi APunba Lup led residents of five neighbouring villages to stage a sit in protest in the locality against the alleged life attempt on the VDF and demanded the concerned authorities to find the truth in the case at the earliest.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/vdf-personnel-rubbishes-shot-himself-report/

Upfront

By RK Lakhi Kant There`s clarity now in my vision of the world moving around me. The instance is an old man coming out of the jungle with his load

By RK Lakhi Kant

There`s clarity now in my vision
of the world moving around me.
The instance is an old man
coming out of the jungle with
his load of firewood for the day
and placing it on the sidewalk
to rest for a while with some
friends, also chatting and
resting there.
The juxtaposition of life
speeding by on the freeway
and another at walking pace
shows how much Indian
conditions have deteriorated
over the last half century.
The economists are exclaiming
they are on top now, so much
is the economic upswing
in the country.
But those who look at life
otherwise know how much
misery is being created when
fuel for cooking is
being equated in terms
of rupees and not with
the hard work required
in cutting wood and carrying it.
It makes me excited to think
how much better it would be
if everyone started living
at a pace the old man is walking at.
I feel instant ease
with everything around me
when I think this way,
and conclude – why
join this madness
they have created and
force us to live in.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/upfront/

FIDAM wants more digging stopped at site of skulls recovery, says site was once SF camp

IMPHAL, December 27: The Families of the Involuntarily Disappeared Association, Manipur (FIDAM) has made a strong appeal to the concern authorities to immediately halt any further digging of the former Tombisana High School campus and to seal off the premise from any unauthorised persons.

Speaking at a press conference today at Kwakeithel, general secretary of the association, Md Baniyamin said that premise was once use as a camp of security forces for many decades.

He said at the same time some of the initial expert opinions on the recovery of skulls have hinted and suggested that the skeletons and skulls would have been buried for around 17 to 40 years which roughly coincides with the period when the phenomena of `enforced disappearances`™ was endemic in the State.

It was during this very period that Thokchom Lokendro Singh (1980), Kangujam Loken Singh (1980), M Laizalal Bijoykumar (1996), Yumlembam Sanamacha (1998), N S John (1995), Khundrakpam Boyai (1998), Md Tayab Ali (1999) disappeared without any trac, he said.

The recovered skeletons could have been of one of those many who had disappeared in the hands of the security forces and could act as the most crucial and critical evidences against many heinous crimes, he continued.

However, it is shocking and at the same time uncalled for that the digging work inside the school premises is continuing unabated, he said stating that a team of FIDAM had visited the premises this morning.

Baniyamin also said that the supervising engineer of the M/S Simplex Project Ltd RC Chatterjee has already expressed his inability to cease the digging work without orders from his higher ups.

He said the association strongly appeals to the concerned authorities to immediately stop the digging and to seal off the place.

He further demanded the constitution of a high level commission of enquiry headed by a retd Judge and consisting of competent experts of various fields to systematically excavate the premise and collect further evidences.

The skulls, skeletons and other recovered items should be examined after conducting DNA profiling of the families who those who have disappeared without any trace during the said period and criminal proceedings should be immediately initiated should any foul play be noticed, he demanded.

Md Baniyamin also informed the media that FIDAM had submitted a memorandum to the State Chief Minister this morning in this regard.

People who don`t want AFSPA repealed are also our own!

By Deben Bachaspatimayum From what has been going on it seems like three sets of people do not want AFSPA 1958 repealed in India and each of them do that

By Deben Bachaspatimayum

From what has been going on it seems like three sets of people do not want AFSPA 1958 repealed in India and each of them do that for all sound reasons. In the first place, the Chief of the Army and the Defense Minister have been very clear and consistently against any move for repeal of the Act. They do it obviously for their own security on ground in the first place and justify that as national interests. Any elected members in the seat of defense minister and Chief of Army of a nation do not need any review on this Act as long as Govt wants them in counter-insurgency duty. There is a valid reason. The second set of people is Coutinho `“ British born NRI who reportedly have contacted an affair with Sharmila. Mr Coutinho`™s clearly wants court to drop the `attempted suicide case`™ on her and release her honourably so he may get married and settle somewhere else. The third sets of people are those within the state who are in power and positions in the Government and those who are drawing direct and indirect benefits from the ongoing violent situation. This set of people also clearly does not want to repeal AFSPA because they badly need the army for their own security within the state.

From the above observations, it is not difficult to surmise how these three sets of people work together in tandem to ensure that anti-AFSPA or for that matter, the anti-security struggles are demoralized and trivialized to insignificance in the international community which has taken serious note of the Act. It is difficult to find how Coutinho eavesdropped into the struggles for repeal of AFSPA in 2006 but it is becoming easier to make out how Coutinho `“ a foreign hand is apparently weakening the struggles for repeal of AFSPA by stealing Sharmila`™s heart on a diversionary tract. If Coutinho were from Pakistan or China I am sure New Delhi would have made him a threat to national security. How and why is that Coutinho whose background is dubious allowed to play so easily out on critical issue like `Right to Life` for the politically threatened and marginalized sections of people in Manipur for eight long years without any restrictions from the concerned ministries and intelligence?

This is the second time Coutinho has come to Manipur knowing very well how he will be treated after earning even more foes of the people than friends in Manipur through his own arrogance and provocative email communications. This man clearly and whole heartedly supports Sharmila with his own vested interests not the people for who Sharmila has been consistently fighting since 2000. For his own interests he even goes to the extent of alleging that Human rights activists, individuals and women groups who are supporting Sharmila to be working in collusion with police and intelligence for her death!? All that, he wants is Sharmila ends her fast and get married with her as soon as possible. Compare Coutinho with Michael Aris, the British Anthropologist and an authority in Tibetan and Bhutanese studies (who married Aun San Suu Kyi `“ a political leader fighting for democracy in our neighborhood). While anybody may have any judgment on how Coutinho impacts our struggles for life and dignity his feelings for Sharmila may also be honoured with dignity. Sharmila`™s tears for Coutinho while being whisk away from the Court campus on that fateful day must guide our community responses to him and the situation lest we should end up losing all: our child, bathwater and the tub. Possibly, Iron Sharmila became an easy and soft target for national security especially when she has been experiencing legal and social isolation for years together for the alleged crime of asking for `Right to Life`™ for ordinary people in India`™s own home grown insurgency ridden geo-strategic region. Coutinho owes the credit of filling in emotional, socio-psychological, intellectual vacuum and personal material requirements of Sharmila`™s prime time life in isolation.

However, any sensible person would not have meddled with the sensitive situation and Sharmila`™s life after the incident of burning and banning the Telegraph Newspaper by civil society organizations for reporting about Sharmila`™s personal life stories which was perceived as an act of sabotage in the struggles for repeal of AFSPA 1958. But Countinho braved to venture in Imphal by forcing himself to be part of the observation of decade old struggles of Sharmila way back in 2010. He even tried to sit close to Sharmila to the extreme displeasures of her support group staging Dharna. His act was considered blatant and lacked of traditionally approved gendered behavior in public. Resentment caused by his behavior triggered hostile behavior among women leaders sitting Dharna and created a contemptuous scene in public. But Coutinho did not learn any lesson and continued to be a romantic hero while acting as someone who represents the international solidarity for Sharmila. Not that, how he was treated by the women folk was any worthy behavior towards a foreigner Coutinho dared to challenge the social norms governing around how a man who wants to have a love affair with a woman should conduct in front of elders in the society and the consequences of not following the norms.

Knowing well how he will be treated again this time Coutinho not only dared to stay for longer time, met many times with Sharmila by taking legal help from the law court and also reportedly tried to influence Sharmila`™s opinion in the court proceedings but what was surprising most absence of any security arrangements for Coutinho `“ a foreigner who was an unwelcome guest!

Alongside Sharmila`™s unprecedented struggles for repeal of armed forces; civil society groups, coalition of legal and human rights activists in the state has been tirelessly sensitizing and mobilizing people across length and breadth of India through national network, and across countries and the international community to put pressure on Indian Govt to repeal the back on basis of Govt`™s review committee reports. AFSPA also figured in the election manifesto of national and regional political parties during the last General Assembly and Parliamentary elections in 2012 and 2014, respectively. However, the defense ministry under pressures from the chief of army has been stiffly against repeal of the Act as something that is not only against the national security and interests but immediate threats to it.

Given the context in which AFSPA is considered an essential instrument for keeping the politically disturbed regions in India it is easy to understand how a nondescript person like Coutinho `“ who, Dr Rebello, a medical doctor turned international peace activists once reported in a personal communication as having a mental condition `“ continued to be allowed to come to Imphal for his personal mission without any hindrance from the state Govt and making any security arrangements accorded to a foreigner on tourist visa, especially when his presence could infuriate Sharmila local support groups. The scene of manhandling Coutinho by Sharmila supporters and the ways he was allowed to be chased outside the court campus freely under the nose of police personnel and security arrangements was revealing of a plan. Coutinho is known as Sharmila`™s closest supporters in some quarters of Europe and social network. Surely, the news of manhandling Countinho in Imphal court complex through electronic and social media is expected to discredit the decade long struggles of the people for rule of law and democracy in this part of the world.

Reliably, Coutinho seemed to have won the hearts of Sharmila and succeeded to influence her deeply. Clearly, Sharmila is in love, and so also, the Defense Minister and the Chief of Army are in love with their own national interests. Love is blind. It is blind to the truth, democracy, reality of and justice to the people who struggle for it. But the struggles for right to life and dignity do not end here. Those who are against the repeal of AFSPA and take decisions to prolonged its operations against all democratic standards, norms, and practices of rule of law are also our own very powerful people who we dutifully elect every five years and strengthening their positions further, term after terms! The enemy is within and it is the most powerful and oppressive. Any amount of Leikai wayels, mobo-cratic and arbitrary actions cannot repeal a legislation of the Parliament rather it can only strengthen the prevailing lawlessness in the society to our own detriments. AFSPA is a political and legal act and it must be fought by the same means. While we may think our local action of manhandling a foreigner was legitimate for disrespecting local sentiments and violating social norms we must also ensure that our thoughts are in tune with the global community.

“The room”

By Ajay Moirangthem The song played, The book puzzled, The mind set, The light blushed, Challenging the darkness. This is how i stay in my room. The aim determined, The

By Ajay Moirangthem

The song played,
The book puzzled,
The mind set,
The light blushed,
Challenging the darkness.
This is how i stay in my room.

The aim determined,
The goal unseen,
Came to challenge the world
But failed to overcome myself.
Despite with a hope i live.
This is why i stay in the room.

Far from home
Came here with a vision
To fulfill mine and others will.
Instead juxtaposed between the two,
Confusing and overshadowing the goal.
Worrying for my future
With accord to the others.
This where you can find me in the room.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/the-room/

Grandmother`s tale

Malangba Bangormayum I have known some wonderful women. One of them is clearly my grandmother who is no more. I saw in her something `“ a something that if a

Malangba Bangormayum

I have known some wonderful women. One of them is clearly my grandmother who is no more. I saw in her something `“ a something that if a percentage of the human population follows would usher in unimagined peace and serenity. She used to tell me that one need not always try to prove that one is right. She used to tell me that let the other feel that they have won. If you throw stones at one another, there would never be dearth of stones. In the throwing you give ammunitions, you arm the other. Such is the nature of conflicts she told me. May be she had a point though one would suspect her to be naive. Whether she is right or wrong that is another thing, whether one accepts it or not is another thing but it was clear to me that she believed in this strategy of non-retaliation for the greater good. In the extended family situation, there are bound to be conflicts. When these happened she used to try persuasion, she used to reason and entreat. If she knew that these were not going to work, when she felt that temperatures were rising and heat was generated, she would remain silent and let the other feel good in the victory of words instead of letting the heat turn into a spark. I sometimes saw tear-glazed eyes in her smile of concession. She was hurt in such instances, for this unlettered grandmother of mine had a soul that was missed by icy rhetoric and logic.

In one of my cheeky moments, I remember asking my grandmother whether there were romance in her times. She narrated me then, how courting were done during her times. Any man, whether married or unmarried, would visit the house of the girl or woman he was interested in. This revelation came as shock to my system. She went on to say that the elders would welcome, albeit a guarded one, those who came for such visits. The girl in question would offer a smoke `“ and the way it was offered signalled whether she was interested in further visits from the one who was visiting. This story of courting which existed, before the Great War reached our land, was nothing short of a revelation in how it contradicted the censure against boys meeting girls in our times. It made me wonder how such a u-turn in our outlook towards the phenomena of courting happened. I remember asking my father for an answer. He was not very sure how it happened but he suspected that it had to do with the Great War.

During my teenage days I saw boys coming to court, banging the electric poles as signals for the girls to come out. I used to see girls peeping out when motorcycle passed by only to be chided by the elders for such show of indecency. But who can fight courting when nature is on its side. No matter the level and intensity of censure, courting somehow happened. Courting, nowadays, is helped by technology. The mobile phone and the internet seem to be on the side of courting. Long distance relations happened even before these technological marvels. We have heard about love across the salt desert, across the oceans and across the mountains. Who would contest that? What I contend here is that technological advances in communication and transport seem to have helped courtship across countries and nationalities a wee bit easier. It is now not unimaginable for someone from the other side of the globe, say Ireland, to come and court someone here or vice-versa to the chagrin of those who safeguards the modesty of their women.

At the end of the narration of how courting used to be in her times, I asked my grandmother whether she prepared smokes for suitors. She replied in a matter of fact tone that there were many suitors and she did prepare many a smoke but since she was already betrothed, in a sense, which I shall not go into the details here, she made it clear to them that she was not interested in further visitations.

How wonderful it all sounded to me, how civilized it all sounded. One could underscore `civil`™ in `civilized` in the previous sentence. My admiration was for those gentlemen who were not offended by the rejection. They were gentlemen if there ever were such a thing.

Grandmothers tell their grandchildren fairy tales and folk stories. I do not remember my grandmother telling me any bed-time stories or fairy tales. But this story of courting could very well pass off as a fairy tale because they sound too good to be true. And as all good things must come to an end, that magical time when people felt confident in their own skin did come to an end.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/grandmothers-tale/