Stay away from tribal student groups' shutdown and rallies, Manipur govt urges people 

Imphal, Aug 30 (IANS) The Manipur government on Friday urged the people not to respond to the tribal student bodies' call for shutting down all business establishments, government offices, and private institutions and join their rally on Saturday in the tribal-inhabited Kangpokpi district.  

The government also warned the tribal student bodies that if anybody creates any law and order problem, it would take appropriate action.

Manipur Home Commissioner N. Ashok Kumar, in a public appeal, said that the Zomi Students' Federation (ZSF) and the Kuki Students Organisation (KSO) gave public notices for holding a public rally at Kangpokpi on Saturday and urged people to shut down all business establishments, government offices, and private institutions and join it.

The state government has issued necessary instructions to take up necessary preventive and precautionary measures, along with a robust response mechanism to avoid any untoward incident and maintain law and order in the state, he said.

"Any such act of issuing public notice for organising a mass rally and urging to shut down institutions, which can pose a grave impact on the prevailing law and order situation and which is likely to pose serious repercussions in the context of the ongoing law and order crisis in the state, is viewed very seriously by the state government with the utmost sensitivity," the Home Commissioner said.

Urging people and the public functionaries to keep all business establishments, government offices and private institutions open and functioning normally, he requested all heads of the Central and state government institutions to issue necessary instructions for the normal functioning of their institutions on Saturday. He said that anybody found involved or provocative in creating law and order problems in this regard shall be prosecuted without exception under relevant provisions of laws of the land.

Various tribal student organisations decided to hold rallies in Manipur's tribal-dominated districts including Kangpokpi and Churachandpur and at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi in support of their Union Territory demand. "For a permanent solution to the Manipur ethnic crisis, the Kuki-Zo people urge the Central government to create a Union Territory with a legislative Assembly as it is critical for our survival. The Kuki-Zo people have the constitutional rights to self-governance and to advance their community without any fear of repression or violence," the KSO said in a statement.

Ten Kuki-Zo tribal MLAs, including seven of the BJP, along with all the leading organisations of the community, have been demanding a separate administration or a Union Territory for the tribals in Manipur.