| Chief minister promises peace at war memorial | ||
| KHELEN THOKCHOM | ||
Khongjom (Thoubal), April 24 : Chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh today chose the anniversary of Manipur’s surrender to the British to promise that any threat to the country’s unity would not be compromised with. The chief minister said he would not remain a silent spectator to acts of violence, as it was the primary duty of the government to protect the life and property of the people. “Bloodshed will not bring us any good. It will give us more widows and sonless mothers. There is a rule of law. It has to be enforced,” Ibobi Singh said, a day after having ensured a relatively peaceful two-phase polling and a “successful” flush-out operation. The chief minister, along with Governor Gurbachan Jagat, was addressing a function to mark Khongjom Day function at Khongjom War memorial complex in Thoubal district today. The last of the Anglo-Manipuri wars was fought at Khongjom leading to loss of Manipur’s sovereignty to the British on April 23, 1891. Manipur remembers the day every year as Khongjom Day. “Any threat or challenge to the hard won freedom of our country and the nation, has to be faced unitedly and boldly,” Jagat said addressing Khongjom Day function at Khongjom war memorial complex in Thoubal district today. Without mentioning the armed movement for sovereignty in Manipur, the governor said freedom should not be misinterpreted in the narrow sense of separatist tendency. He said people were fed up with violence and they want education for their children and a secured environment. Though neither the governor nor the chief minister mentioned the peaceful polls or the Loktak operation in their speeches today, they said the government was determined to “restore peace and usher in development” in Manipur by boldly tackling the problem of militancy. “On this sacred day of Khongjom, let’s all take the pledge to maintain peace in the state,” Ibobi Singh told the large gathering. Jagat and Ibobi Singh led the gathering in paying floral tribute at the war memorial stone atop Khebaching hillock of Khongjom. The main attraction of today’s programme was a presentation of Khongjom Lal (Khongjom War), by artistes of the drama division of the directorate of information and public relations depicting the Manipuri heroes’ fight against the British soldiers 118 years ago. People from various parts of the state came to pay homage to the Manipuri heroes. |
