Crisis deepens in Manipur

FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
IMPHAL, July  30: The crisis in Manipur has become worse and  some commentators and newspapers are talking about the possibility of a short spell of President’s rule. Agitationists of all sorts have been gaining upperhand while the Chief Minister Okram Ibobi has been trying to contain the law and order with the brutal use of force. Since the state cannot be ruled in accordance with the provisions of the constitution there is speculation that the union government may intervene. Some policemen had gunned down a student, Sapam Robinhood, a class eleven student on July 8. He was one of the students who were taking out procession demanding the implementation of the Inner Line Permit in the state. After hitting him with a rubber bullet  police did not permit other students to take him away to hospital. It was  nearly one hour later that one elderly scootarist had somehow evacuated the student. However the doctors pronounced him dead shortly after admission. The crestfallen further said that if his son would have been admittted in the hospital in time he could be saved. Apart from this rank of inhumanity many sections have been demanding the suspension of the policemen as the first step to punish them. However the government has has been protecting them. It was in protest against this strange government policy that the Joint Action Committee against the killing of Robinhood that a 38 hour general strike was called which ended at 7 pm on Wednesday.