In solidarity with the persecuted people of Manipur, concerned citizens from all walks of life today joined a candlelight vigil here at Don Bosco Square in Laitumkhrah.
Caldwell Manners, a human rights advocate who is also part of the Manipur Support Network in Shillong that organised the programme, expressed concern about the experience of people who have been displaced in the conflict in Manipur and whoever have arrived in Shillong.
“We are concerned how they are adjusting to a new life, whether they are able to find a house, find schools, get healthcare for their children, etc,” Manners told reporters. “We want to really highlight that there are a lot of people who have arrived in the city and are having a really hard time. So today’s event was to show solidarity with the people and the victims of the conflict in Manipur, both from the Kukis and Meiteis. We are here to call for peace. We’re here to call for reconciliation. We’re here to call for the end of violence and that the state (Manipur) will take responsibility and be accountable for the things that have happened in the last couple of months. A lot of what has happened has been a failure of the state to respond adequately to the violence that has happened. And we’re hoping that the state takes notice of that and does the things that it needs to do. It has the power but it just doesn’t have the political will to do so.”
Although a vocal section of society has expressed fears about the displaced persons turning into permanent residents of Meghalaya, the organisers have urged for the people of the state to open their hearts to those who have lost their possessions and have had to upturn their lives just to be able to escape to Shillong.
Displaced persons have expressed sorrow that they have not received adequate support, such as being denied permission to set up a relief camp and then being hampered from taking homes on rent.
Expressing concern about this, Manners said that the displaced people should be able to use their national health insurance card in Meghalaya’s hospitals just to make their lives easier. He also raised the housing issue and difficulties that students are facing in finding admission in schools.
“Schools can open up doors and add extra chairs in the classroom or something like that,” Manners said. “This is a crisis, not something that is normal, and we all have to make adjustments in times like this. These are our neighbors. These are people from our own country and we should be kind to make room for them.”
Referring to the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) direction to Dorbar Shnongs about not giving housing to people coming from outside the state, Manners appealed to the local authority to make room for the people who were forced to flee the violence in Manipur.
Social activist Angela Rangad was pleased with the turnout at the vigil, saying that the people of Shillong came together to show their protest against the “orchestrated civil war” in Manipur that has continued for more than two months.
“It is time for all of us in the region to realise that the kind of violence that has been unleashed in Manipur and hatred that has been spread is something that those in power know very well about. In fact, we have to hold them responsible. They have raised terror groups. They have raised militias and they have allowed those militia to run riot and to use the Meitei community against the Kukis and vice versa with a design for something much larger than what we are seeing,” she said.
Stating that both the Manipur and central government are accountable for what has happened, Rangad added, “All of our fingers have to point towards the government and have to demand for accountability.”
She also referred to targetted violence against women. When such injustice happens, especially to women, to anybody in any corner of the world, it happens to each one of us, Rangad added. “This is why we have to come together to condemn it. And we have to give out a very strong message that we will not allow our region to be destabilised by the fascist elements pushing an agenda of control of hatred.”
