Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, October 16 2009:
Claiming that the meeting organised by All Manipur Students' Guardians Association (AMSGA) on October 14 at Iboyaima Shumang Leela Shanglen was pre-planned 20 days earlier and that it was held under four different sections in their separate interests, the AMSU, MSF and KSA asserted that decision of the guardians' association was least worthy of consideration from all perspectives.
A joint statement issued by the three student bodies claimed that the meeting was organised at the behest of the All Manipur Government Recognised Private Schools' Association, some guardians who happened to be relatives of the incumbent Government, members of some organisations or private individuals opposed to the people's movement and some middle class people who do not understanding the meaning of mass.
Even as some people who were genuinely concerned with the issues of the state were present in the guardians' association, they were eclipsed by guardians with vested interests.
Taking strong exception to the attitude of deliberately acting as unaware of what student bodies and guardians' associations are, the AMSU, MSF and KSA demanded an apology through media within three days from those people who made offensive remarks in the live telacast of ISTV on October 14 .
Otherwise all activities of the AMSGA would be prohibited, the student bodies warned.
The meeting organisers should bear responsibility for those people who lashed out against the people's movement.
While lauding the speeches made by some speakers who understood the people's movement, the student bodies remarked that those who accused student bodies of using students as a means were too nescient.
It is only natural for student bodies to use students and this is a universal truth.
The student bodies asked the guardians' association whether it has any response if it is said that the guardians' association used guardians.
Reiterating that their movement is for protection of the present and future generations, the AMSU, MSF and KSA expressed surprise over the number of people belonging to different organisations who spoke at the meeting in the name of being guardians.
In that case, the student bodies can mobilise a large number of guardians other than those assembled on October 14 to organise another meeting, they claimed.
The so-called guardians committed a sin by making unrestrained speeches without understanding the underlying significance of the movement.
Reacting to the repeated appeals to launch a democratic movement instead of the ongoing class boycott movement, the AMSU, MSF and KSA asked if class boycott was not a democratic movement.
"Or should the guardians accept that the killing of Rabina and Sanjit by some police commandos on July 23 as a democratic act?", the student bodies asked.
They further reiterated that the class boycott movement would never be called off until and unless the Apunba Lup's demands are fulfilled.
Saying that they don't have any objection to the demand for making education a free zone and that they worked towards this end in different phases earlier, the student bodies whether it would carry any meaning to make educational institutions free zones when the surrounding areas have been turned into killing zones.
"What is the use if students are killed in the killing zones just outside the free zones of their educational institutions?", they asked.
"The AMSU, MSF and KSA are determined to use their strength and power against the anti-people Government but the same power may be exercised against those Government machinery masquerading as guardians if they continue on provoking us", the student bodies cautioned.
Asserting that the rampant killings perpetrated in Manipur in the name of tackling insurgency is nothing but genocide, the student bodies observed that the Government of India is working to bring a political solution in Naxalite affected states instead of using military power in quite contrast to what is witnessed in the state.
But in Manipur even aged women are being detained under NSA.
Questioning whether AMSGA was there to speak against AMSU, MSF and KSA, the student bodies asked if the guardians did anything noticeable when a minor girl student of Arong Nongmaikhong was apprehended by a combined security team because they could not arrest her parents.
Expressing solidarity to the protest movement launched by AMWJU against the Govt, the student bodies conveyed their desire for AMWJU to launch more stringent action.
Pointing out the similarity between the people's movement and media people's movement, the AMSU, MSF and KSA noted that all the organisations and clubs of Manipur ought to support the AMWJU's protest movement.