Manipur incident shameful: J&K political parties, say PM’s remarks too little, too late

Srinagar, Jul 20 (PTI) The parading naked of two women in Manipur is shameful, painful and horrific, political parties in Jammu and Kashmir said on Thursday, asserting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks on the incident were too little, too late.

Tension mounted in the hills of Manipur after the May 4 video surfaced on Wednesday showing two women from one of the warring communities in the northeastern state being paraded naked by a mob from the other side. Manipur Police on Thursday arrested one of the main accused seen in the video.

National Conference chief spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq said the video of the incident that surfaced online brought shame to humanity.

“The video that went viral from Manipur is not only shameful but also painful. It brings great shame to humanity,” Sadiq told PTI.

He said it was “hurting” that the BJP and the Manipur government took more than two months to even react to the horrific incident.

“For 24 hours, the chief minister did not react and he was so naive to say that he did not know about it till today morning,” he said.

Asked about the prime minister’s remarks on Manipur ahead of the Parliament’s Monsoon session, the NC spokesperson said the issue should not be politicised.

“It should not be about the governments, it should be about humanity. I think this country should believe in the rule of law and I think the government of India should have reacted early. Manipur (issue) has been going on for long time, it’s time for the violence there to end and genuine concerns of the people be addressed,” Sadiq said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the incident of women being paraded naked in Manipur has shamed 140 crore Indians, asserting that law will act with its full might and no guilty will be spared.

“Today, when I am standing by this temple of democracy my heart is full of pain and anger,” he told reporters in his remarks at Parliament complex before the start of Monsoon session and amid his criticism by opposition parties for not speaking on the ethnic violence in the BJP-ruled north east state.

PDP spokesperson Najmus Saqib said the PM’s remarks were too little, too late as the government did not utter a word for the last two months.

“It is too little, too late. For the last two months, they have not uttered a word There was no action, no one has been held responsible,” he said.

Saqib said Modi did not speak about the issue for the last two months.

“He did not even utter one word about Manipur and that vividly tells us about the priorities of the PM. They were so much focused on election like in Karnataka, they didn’t even take a single meeting about Manipur, so these are the double standards.”

Saqib said the government has been claiming day in and day out that there are no incidents of violence or communal violence across India, and they boast of a safe law and order situation, but there has been a breakdown of law and order in Manipur.

“Horrendous and horrific images are coming out of Manipur. If this does not move the government, I don’t know what will? Specially, on top of that, when you come to know that government has been sitting on this video for the last two months and no action has been taken against the perpetrators,” he said.

The PDP spokesperson said if this kind of “de-stabilisation and breakdown of law and order” would have happened in other opposition-led states, “I think they would have imposed presidential rule long back”.

“If the same thing would have happened in Kashmir, they would have imposed Presidential rule, Governor rule, dispatched the government, dissolved the assembly. But, nothing of that sort will happen because they are ruling Manipur and it us under their watch that Manipur state of India is burning.

“Will they downgraded it to UT, will they abrogate Article 371 of Manipur? The whole of India is looking at the government to see their reaction,” he said.

“There is a complete breakdown of law and order, there is complete anarchy. The whole India is asking one simple question, will there be accountability for what is happening in Manipur? Who will resign? Who will take responsibility of what is happening?” Saqib asked.