Landmines killed 40 in Manipur since ’01

Image by Cambodia Trust via Flickr

SOBHAPATI SAMOM | IMPHAL, May 6 – A three day convention of people affected by the ongoing slow- intensity conflict and narcotic drugs has urged both the State and non-State forces to immediately cease the trend of exploding bombs and placing landmines in inhabited areas.

According to Ginkholal Touthang, Secretary of the Association of Landmine Survivors, many inhabitants of villages located under Khengjoi Block in Manipur’s Chandel district bordering Myanmar have been killed in landmine explosions while many others have been maimed for life. Since 2001, more than 40 villagers have been killed in such landmine explosions.

A landmine victim and housewife Tilhat of Molcham village said, “We don’t want luxurious houses nor trendy cars, but we yearn for peace where there is no fear of landmines”. Her children refused to go back to their village saying that bombs might blow up and gun fights might break out.

Urging that the government should act immediately to check the proliferation of small arms and ammunition in Manipur and the North East, the gathering of Peoples’ Platform Secretariat in collaboration with different organizations from nine districts also reminded the government to immediately initiate peace talks with non-State actors/insurgent groups by removing the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and spur development.

The common people here are caught in the crossfire between the State and non-State forces since the last six decades. As a result, there have been frequent killings. Besides, the basic facilities of the common people such as food,water,road, electricity and healthcare are still denied.

The convention which came out with a ten point charter of demands on its concluding day on Sunday said, “There are a large number of women in the State who have been widowed after their husbands were killed by gunmen – both State and non-State as well as those widowed in bomb blasts, landmine and by HIV/AIDS.

The number of widows is rising rapidly in the face of the daily killings that are continuing unabated in Manipur. Around 61 persons were reported killed in the ongoing conflict in Manipur last month.

Source: THE ASSAM TRIBUNE

Mizoram rural people more interested in politics: Survey

Aizawl: Rural people in Mizoram are more interested in politics than their urban counterparts, according to a survey. While a lot of voters had expressed their loss of hope in politicians and political parties, a majority of rural people still remained loyal to the political parties they had been supporting since their grandparents’ time, the post-poll survey conducted by the Mizoram University’s political science department found.

‘Behavioural study of political attitude and opinion in Mizoram: A post-poll study during the Lok Sabha election’ was conducted in 20 of the 40 Assembly constituencies during the last few weeks.

''In each selected 20 constituencies, we short-listed four polling stations where we distributed questionnaires,'' political science lecturer of the university C Lallianchhunga said.

''While a lot of voters had expressed their loss of hope in politicians and political parties, we found that majority of rural people still remained loyal to the political parties,'' Lallianchhunga added.

''A significant finding was that many people in the rural areas were living in extreme poverty and were eagerly looking forward to a good government to liberate them. A number of cultivators said they had had enough of the primitive shifting cultivation, but had no other options due to lack of agricultural policies by the government,'' he said.

On the contrary, the survey states that the urban dwellers were economically better off than their rural counterparts. Therefore they paid lesser interest to politics.

The survey was funded by the University Grant Commission under the National Election Study 2009. The political science department had conducted similar study with CSDS (Centre for Studies of Development Science)-IBN during the Assembly elections last year. (UNI)

Source: THE SHILLONG TIMES