Rally organised in Manipur against AFSPA, civilian killings

People take part in a protest march against the recent violence in Manipur and reimposition of AFSPA in parts of the state, in Imphal, on December 10, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

GUWAHATI

Hundreds of people, mostly women and students, on Tuesday (December 10, 2024) took out a rally in Manipur’s capital Imphal against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) and civilian killings by alleged terrorists.

The protest rally, coinciding with International Human Rights Day, was organised a day after the State government lifted the ban on mobile Internet services across the Imphal Valley and Jiribam region bordering Assam. Internet services were suspended on November 16 after the recovery of the bodies of six women and children allegedly abducted by armed assailants triggered a fresh wave of violence.

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Five organisations — the All Manipur United Clubs Organisation, Poirei Leimarol Apunba Meira Paibi, All Manipur Women’s Voluntary Association, Committee on Human Rights, and the Manipur Students’ Federation — organised the five-kilometre rally from Thau Ground to Kuman Lampak Stadium in Imphal.

Security was tightened for the rally to offset any untoward incident. Inmates of relief camps were among the participants.

The protestors held placards with messages reading ‘Repeal AFSPA’, ‘Do not obliterate Manipur’, ‘Save Manipur’, among others. They told journalists they would continue protesting until the AFSPA, said to give the armed forces the licence to kill in the name of counter-insurgency operations, was repealed.

“We also condemn the barbaric act of killing women and children, including a baby a few months old,” one of the protestors said.

The killing of three women and three children in the Jiribam district resulted in widespread violence in Manipur’s Imphal Valley in November, with mobs torching and vandalising the houses of several MLAs and Ministers.

The AFSPA was reimposed in areas under six police stations of the Imphal Valley in November. The MLAs of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners later resolved to urge the Centre to withdraw the AFSPA.