IMPHAL, Aug 10 (PTI): Hundreds of women took out torch
rallies across the Imphal valley, demanding that a special
session of the Manipur assembly be convened before the
monsoon session of Parliament ends.
The rallies were held around 9.30 pm on Wednesday at
Keisampat, Keisamthong and Kwakeithel in Imphal West
district, and Wangkhei and Kongba in Imphal East district.
“In the assembly session, the government should pass a
resolution to protect the state’s territorial integrity and send it
to Parliament while it is still in session,” Ingudam Babita, one of
the participants of the rally, told reporters at Wangkhei.
The women also raised slogans against the demand for
separate administration by Kuki groups, and for the
implementation of NRC to identify “illegal” immigrants in the
state and deport them.
The Manipur cabinet last week recommended Governor
Anusuiya Uikey to convene a session of the assembly from
August 21.
The previous assembly session was held in March, and violence
broke out in the state in May.
Last Saturday, a 24-hour general strike called by Meitei apex
group — Coordinating Committee of 27 Assembly constituencies
in Manipur — demanding a special session of the assembly had
paralysed life in the Imphal valley.
The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI),
an umbrella body of several Imphal-based civil society
organisations, had also announced on August 6 a “boycott of
the state government” for its failure to convene an emergency
session of the assembly and inept handling of the ongoing
unrest in the state, which has so far claimed over 160 lives.
