IMPHAL, March 18: Imagi Meira, a women-based pressure group, on Monday expressed strong concern over the government orders asking the people to submit licensed guns in connection with the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Members of the group, in a press meet held at Manipur Press Club Imphal, said that the move will make the villagers residing in the peripheral areas of the valley defenseless as the ethnic crisis coupled with violence is yet to end in the state.
They asserted that the villagers are defending their villages with licensed arms.
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After the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the poll dates for the 18th Lok Sabha elections, the deputy commissioners of all the districts in Manipur issued orders directing the public to submit licensed arms.
Coordinator of the group (Imagi Meira), L Shachirani while decrying the orders said that miscreants armed with sophisticated weapons are continuing their attacks on the settlements in the fringe of the valley districts.
The village guards armed with licensed guns have been defending villages from the attackers, she claimed, and asked whether the village guards should stop guarding the villages for the sake of elections.
She also said that it is a well known fact that the miscreants attacking the villages in the fringe of the valley districts are armed with highly sophisticated weapons of foreign origin.
While asserting this, she criticized the ineffectiveness of the central security forces in protecting the lives and properties of the villagers in the peripheral areas.
She also criticized the announcement of the poll dates in the strife-hit Manipur without resolving the crisis unfolding in the state.
At the same time, the coordinator of the organisation questioned the motive behind the arrest of three members of the UNLF (P), including its army chief, who are under the ceasefire truce with the government. (NNN)
