Dimapur, November 7 (MExN): The violent response of the Manipur police on November 3 against peaceful demonstrators protesting against the ‘injustice that the Mapithel (Thoubal) Multipurpose Project has imposed upon them’, is flayed by the Sinlung Indigenous Peoples Human Rights Organization.
The SIPHRO said a peaceful rally, led by women demanding securing and respect for their community rights, were met with a ‘lathi-charge’, tear-gases and harassed by the Manipur police. “The high-handedness of the security forces under the insensitive eyes of the government of Manipur once again affirmed the militarized character of itself. This has cultivated a culture of violence and severely negates the democratic culture, which the Mapithel Dam Affected Ching-Tam Organisation (MDACTO) upholds” said SIPHRO while reiterating stance against the culture of violence and militarization. This culture is being promoted by the Government of Manipur to suppress the interest and aspirations of the people, the organization said in a statement appended by Lalremlien Neitham, secretary of SIPHRO.
The SIPHRO also spat fire at the dam builders as well as the government of Manipur for pursuing the project without prior informed consent of the affected people. “SIPHRO is against the culture of making big elusive promises to annex the indigenous peoples land and resources, which eventually results in expelling the people from their ancestral land” it stated. In the case of the Mapithel (Thoubal) Multipurpose Project, the organization said, the indigenous people affected by the “inhumane project” have gone to the extent of uprooting and destabilizing their lives.
“When, in their quest to redress their plights, the affected people raised their voices, the Government forces resorted to force and employ the harshest available means to suppress them” the organization spat. The Government of Manipur should immediately stop inculcating the culture of violence in addressing and redressing its inefficiencies and should hold itself responsible for the police violence that resulted in injuring more than 43 anti-dam protesters. “It should immediately compensate the injuries done to the victims and address the issues raised by the protesters peacefully and responsibly” it demanded. The organization ridiculed the police and the government saying “it is a shame to see the might of armed men employing brute force to suppress women-led protest rally”.
The Government of Manipur should withdraw the deployment of security forces from the dam’s site and immediately stop, once and for all, its “adoration for militarization” the SIPHRO demanded. “Violence and militarization that are instruments of the Government of Manipur has been ruining the state for all these time” it asserted.
“The Government of Manipur should immediately stop constructing the Mapithel Dam and review all its policies by upholding the rights, interest and aspirations of the affected people in whose land the project has been imposed. In all its policy and approach, the Government of Manipur should put its people first to make Mapithel Dam a people centric one. Negating the rights and aspirations of the people will only go a long way to negate itself” the SIPHRO added.
