Press Release: Dialogue for Peace in Manipur

An online petition on Change.org which was supported by 500 plus people of Manipur, from different walks of life, has been submitted to both the leaders of Joint Action Committee Against Anti-tribal Bills (JACAATB) at Churachandpur and Joint Committee On The Inner Line Permit System (JCILPS) at Imphal today, 20 June 2016. A memorandum was also submitted to the Chief Minister and Chief Secretary, Govt. of Manipur, requesting them to mediate between the two parties.

The campaign was initiated to end the ongoing impasse between JCILPS and JACAATB. More than 500 people belonging to different communities who want to restore the peaceful communal harmony between various communities in the state have signed the petition, urging both the groups to have a dialogue and sort out the differences.

We the signatories believe that dialogue is the only means to sort out the differences so that peace is restored.

Quotes from JACAATB and JCILPS

The Chief-Convener of JACAATB Mr H Mangchinkhup said: “There has been no initiative from the Manipur Government for any dialogue for the last 6 months. We are open to any dialogue with JCILPS.”

The Co-Convener of JCILPS Mr Md. Kheiruddin Shah Moijingmayum said: “So far there has not been any initiative from Government of Manipur. Of course, want to go for a dialogue with JACAATB.”

Quotes from campaigners of this petition:

“I was very worried about the present turmoil in Manipur, the growing mistrust between the communities and the possibility of communal violence. I saw dialogue between the communities as the only way to ease this turmoil and bring about an amicable solution. I also saw that many people shared this same opinion, but our individual voices were not getting heard. Looking at this, I pitched this idea of a petition to my friends and jointly started this petition.”
- Devakishor Soiraisam, a petitioner.

“We are not activists, we are not Civil Society Organisations, we are not influenced by the state or non-state actors, we are just ordinary common men like you and him and her, who see what we all see, and feel the urgent need for a dialogue between the spearheading committees of hill and the valley for an amicable solution.”
- Ringo Pebam, a petitioner

Quotes from other petitioners

We also enclosed some of the quotes from among the signatories:

“I am a daughter whose mother belongs to a tribal community and father who belongs to a Meitei community and to my knowledge all I can say is that there has been a huge gap of miscommunication among the various communities of Manipur which can be solved through a peaceful talk and this would be a great start.”
- Diana Elangbam, Change.org

“We have been living together for centuries. No reason should allow us to live apart from each other.”
- Kenny Sialloa, Change.org