- Women burn toy weapons to protest gun culture
Protesters burn toy guns in Imphal East on Tuesday. Telegraph picture
Imphal, April 5: Local residents marched to the chief minister’s office today to protest the killing of a mobile service provider employee in Wangkhei, Imphal East.
Two unknown gunmen entered Oinam Borbabu Singh’s house and shot him in the head, while he was sleeping, in front of his wife and three children at 8.30 last night. Sandhyarani, Singh’s wife, said two gunmen had tried to kill Singh on March 18 also, but missed.
In another incident on April 1, unidentified men shot dead a zila parishad member and in retaliation a couple was lynched by a mob in Thoubal district. Last month, N. Ajay Singh, son of irrigation and flood control minister N. Biren Singh, gunned down a youth at Ghari.
In yet another incident, an elderly woman died after being hit by a bullet allegedly fired by an Assam Rifles jawan while celebrating India’s win the cricket World Cup in Thoubal district. A joint action committee formed by the Wangkhei residents submitted a memorandum to chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh, giving him three days’ time to trackd down the culprits. Local Congress MLA E. Suraj Singh also took part in the protest rally.
As the procession was being taken out, members of Conflict Widows’ Forum, Women Action for Development and other women’s organisations from the four valley districts gathered at Palace Compound in Imphal East and burnt toy guns as a mark of protest against the killings.
“Only widows understand the sufferings of a widow. Our children could not live a normal life as they always think about revenge. This is in addition to my difficulties to give them education and also finding two square meals a day. So, we are protesting the gun culture,” Mutum Umaranai Devi, 38, a widow with four children from Bishnupur district said.
Militants had killed Umaranai’s husband Dillip Singh, who used to own a store at Moirang Bazar in the district, in December 2005.
Geeta Devi, who was hit by a bullet during a fight between militants in Bishnupur district in 2005, said sale of toy guns should be banned. She said toy guns affect children’s psychology.
After burning the toy guns, members of the women’s organisations jointly sent a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, demanding justice.
The memorandum also demanded assessment of the rights situation in Manipur by UN Special Rapporteur, establishment of trauma counselling centres and child counselling cells in all districts, monitoring of arms proliferation and information on the arms seized by security forces.
