IMPHAL: Manipur’s ‘Iron lady’ , and satayarahi Irom Sharmila has called for an immediate end to the armed conflict in the state, comparing the ongoing situation in Manipur and the conflict in Gaza.

She expressed her anguish at reports of the militant ambush at Paraolon in Chandel district on June 4 and the subsequent retaliation by the army along Manipur’s border. Sharmila is imprisoned and fasting for 15 years demanding repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.

Commenting on the army action of carrying out pre-emptive strikes on insurgents along the India-Myanmar border, she said, “It saddens me that Manipur is going the way of Gaza Strip,” Sharmila, spoke to the local media while she was being brought to an Imphal court for a routine appearance today. Warning that war brings only deaths and sufferings to the people, Sharmila strongly advocated the use of “love and humanity”.

The Paraolon offensive, jointly mounted by the NSCN (K), Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) and Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP), killed 18 soldiers. Two militants were killed in the attack.

She questioned the militants’ path of violence as well. “Is there no other way than using their killer instincts to bring revolutions? Can’t they dedicate themselves for the people and bring revolution without violence?”

Civil society in Manipur isn’t buying the army claims.

The convenor of the Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights in Manipur and UN (United Nations) Laifungbam D. Roy, said the army’s claim was a one-sided statement and there was no report to corroborate it.

Basantakumar Wareppa, an activist of Human Rights Alert, Manipur, said if the claim of killing militants was true, the bodies should be returned to their respective families

Militants claim that army ‘fled’

The Revolutionary Peoples’ Front (RPF) admitted that the army had attacked one of the mobile camps of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) located in Ukhrul district near Myanmar border yesterday.

“The PLA fighters retaliated and the army team fled, leaving behind some magazines loaded with bullets. The claim by top army officials about inflicting heavy casualties was cheap propaganda aimed at misleading the people. No PLA cadre was injured. Bloodstains were found in the area after the encounter, suggesting some army personnel were wounded,” Ruben Khuman, “publicity secretary” of the RPF, the political wing of the PLA, said in a statement issued here today.

NSCN (K) charge: The Khaplang group of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) said the Centre’s claim of cross-border raid on militants was “totally false”.

An NSCN (K) source said Indian security forces were trying to force Burma (Myanmar) to launch an operation against the groups based there through “false propaganda”.

The Naga outfit has demanded evidence of their raids on insurgent camps along the India-Myanmar border. “The unsubstantiated claim of cross-border raid by the Indian army is a conspiracy at the highest political-military-intelligence level of Government of India to coerce the Myanmar government to act upon the NSCN and also exude confidence on her demoralised and frustrated soldiers deployed along India-Naga-Burma border,” the source was quoted as saying from an undisclosed location.

The outfit said the Centre’s efforts to mobilise public opinion to justify the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act is the reason behind the current operations.

“Attempting to brand the NSCN as a terror group would be a self-mockery on her (India’s) part. Indian officials have signed cease fire pacts with NSCN. Since no legitimate representative government ever signs official ceasefire pact with a terror group, nor will it classify the terror problem as political,” the NSCN source added.

“Successive Indian governments have acknowledged the Naga issue as political over the last six decades, no drastic change of stance by the present government can change the basic issue,” the NSCN said.

The outfit said it would strongly retaliate if a joint team of India and Myanmar operates against them. The source said it is prepared to face any eventuality and demanded that the Centre come clear on the claim about killing NSCN (K) and other outfits’ cadres in the recent operation.

The NSCN (K) sources said there was report that Indian security forces battered camps of the PLA along Indo-Myanmar border, but added that there was no casualty or injury.

Blast in Moreh, further attempts to make a case for AFSPA?

A bomb, suspected to be a grenade, exploded inside a police complex at Moreh, 109km south of Imphal, which is Manipur’s border town where trade was on with Myanmar, around 7pm today. Initial reports said no one was injured. The police believe the bomb was hurled from outside the complex by unidentified persons.

  army, HUMAN RIGHTS, Human Rights Alert, Irom Sharmila, Manipur, NSCN