IMPHAL, May 7 MNS NNN : Seijang Progressive Youth Club Tuesday accused the Tangkhul Katamnao Long, Imphal (TKLI) and other NGOs of misjudging the people of Seijang village through the media, terming it as ‘unfortunate.’
Heikrujam Tombi, president, Seijang Progressive Youth Front while addressing the media at the Manipur Press Club here, said that Hongprang, headman of Silent village must be held responsible for the unwanted incident that took place in his village on May 3.
He insisted that the Seijang villagers have neither communal feeling nor ill feeling toward the Silent villagers while firmly maintaining that Seijang will never object the villagers of Silent while settling down in their village so long as they do not impinge upon the land given by the Manipur state durbar.
Urging the NGOs to avoid making unneeded statements on the Silent village incident, Tombi requested them to work on ending the land dispute on the basis of records or documents at the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kangpokpi and Gauhati High Court.
Acknowledging the long time peaceful co-existence of the two villages, he mentioned the existing inter-marriage practice there and added that Seijang men got married seven Kuki women and another three Tangkhul women.
However, he alleged that the Silent village chief has allowed building of new houses by encroaching disputed land area after taking Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 per house and used the money to fight the case in the court that led to the unwanted incident.
Committee on Protection of Tribal Areas, Manipur (COPTA) has said that the recent Silent village arson incident was due to the communication gap between the Silent village and that of Saijang village. COPTAM however, blames the state government of Manipur for the incident saying had the government done what COPTAM had suggested on district boundary issue the May 3 incident would have been averted.
COPTAM general secretary Thangkam Lupheng along with his team visited Silent village and donated 20 bags of rice to the villagers. He said the leaders of Silent and Saijang villages ought to sit down and resolve the misunderstanding. “No room should be given for any vested interest element to communalise the May 3 incident but better sense should be allowed to prevail,” said Thangkam Lupheng while talking to the Silent villagers.
Terming it as very unfortunate, Thangkam Lupheng said COPTAM strongly condemns the incident but suggested, “The best move is to hold dialogue between the two villages.”
Meanwhile, Saikul Area Naga Peoples’ Organisation (SANPO) has also donated 5 bags of rice to the Silent villages where 36 houses were razed to ashes by the Seijang villagers on May 3.
UNC said in a press statement that Silent village with about 60 households was attacked by a large number of well armed people from the neighbouring Saijang village at about 10.30 am of 3rd May, 2013 and 36 (thirty-six) houses were burnt down. Properties worth crores of rupees was reduced to cinders and hundreds of villagers were rendered homeless.
The nearest Police station, Lamlai P.S. , located just a few kms away was informed at 11 AM but the Police arrived at the spot at only 1.00 PM. Some of the attackers were armed with sophisticated weapons which were fired in the air and many of them were masked. Some of the Silent villagers were locked up from outside by the attackers before setting the house on fire. They escaped being burnt to death fortunately by breaking open the doors of the houses as the fire engulfed the houses.
It also submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister of India
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/help-condemnations-pour-in-over-seijang-incident/
