By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Nov 9: The North East Students’ Organisation (NESO) on Thursday asked the Centre to call all stakeholders in Manipur to the negotiating table to thrash out an agreeable solution for peace to prevail again in the conflict-scarred state.
NESO members held a peaceful sit-in demonstration across the Northeast seeking peace in Manipur and questioning Centre’s silence on the ethnic violence in the state.
The demonstration at the Fire Brigade here was organised by Khasi Students’ Union, a constituent of NESO. Members of other student organisations and community groups participated in the programme. “It is very sad that the government of India has not yet taken any initiative for the indigenous people of the Northeast, especially Manipur. We in the region have disagreements but we should try to solve our differences peacefully through dialogue,” NESO chairman Samuel Jyrwa said.
Stating that the Centre has set a dangerous trend by failing to address the situation in Manipur, he said: “We have called upon the government of India to resolve the issue. But it seems that New Delhi is still turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to the sufferings of the people of Manipur.”
“How long will this go on? The people’s lives are at stake, they have lost property, and the students’ careers are on the line. The Centre should pay attention in order to prevent a generation from being destroyed because of this crisis,” Jyrwa said.
He said any further delay from the Centre in pushing for permanent peace in Manipur would further alienate the indigenous peoples of the Northeast from the country’s mainland.
Meanwhile, the Shillong Manipuri Students’ Organisation president Chongtham Thangamba Meetei said: “It is time for the government to bring both the communities (Kuki and Meitei) together for a solution.”
“Six months have passed, thousands have been displaced, hundreds killed, and students have dropped out of schools and colleges. The situation has reached a peak and yet the Central government has remained a mute spectator. They are more concerned about external affairs but not about their own citizens,” Kuki Students Organisation president, Thangjalen Doungel said.