United Naga Council calls for 12-hour total shutdown over killing of Naga woman in Manipur

DIMAPUR— The United Naga Council (UNC) has called for a 12-hour total shutdown from 6 am to 6 pm on Monday in all the Naga areas in Manipur to protest the “cold-blooded murder” of a Naga lady by the Meitei group Arambai Tenggol on July 15.

In a press statement, the apex body of the Nagas in Manipur said that Lucy Marem of Narum village in Chandel district was ‘forcefully apprehended by the Meira Paibis and handed over to the Arambai Tenggol, the newly formed private militia known for their notoriety during the present conflict in Manipur’ before being brutally murdered at Sawombung in Imphal East district.

Taking serious note of the ‘barbaric act’, the UNC demanded the state government to immediately constitute a judicial inquiry committee and arrest the perpetrators of the crime, including the “Meira Paibis who are complicit in the act of crime” and initiate an exemplary punishment on the culprits.

It demanded that the people behind the cold-blooded killing of “Naga sister Lucy Maring” be brought to justice as per the Naga Customary Law.

“The Meitei Civil Society Organizations will be equally held responsible for this despicable act, hence their role and position must be made known to all concerned,” it added.

“In the event of not fulfilling our demands within 48 hours, further course of action will be initiated,” it cautioned.

The UNC said that ‘it is unimaginable for a women organization like the Meira Paibis that profess to be torch bearers of peace partaking in acts of killings’.

“UNC condemns such barbaric acts committed on innocent Nagas despite knowing her identity as Naga. Since the beginning of this unfortunate conflict between Meiteis and Kukis, the Nagas have maintained that peace must prevail and have lent our might toward this end.

“Vested interest parties who wish to drag us into this conflict will not be spared and our patience and accommodating acts of the recent past should not be taken as a sign of weakness by all concerned who have provoked us, destroying our properties, torturing and humiliating us during the present conflict at different places and times,” it said.