By: Dibin Samuel
Naga women and children sit at a temporary shelter for displaced Nagas from Manipur state, at Khuzama village, in the northeastern Indian state of Nagaland, Friday, May 7 2010. Police fired tear gas..(AP)
Citing the verse ‘Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God', an appeal by the Christian council requested “earnest prayers” for peace to prevail in Manipur in the backdrop of escalating violence.
"Peace, love, friendship and harmony of people in Manipur are shaken. We need God's guidance and wisdom so the economic blockade can be called off and normal life can return to Manipur," said Rev. Madhu Chandra, regional secretary of aicc.
In its appeal, the aicc lamented that the common and innocent people in hills and valley of Manipur were suffering without food and other commodities due to the economic blockade for last one month.
"The life has reached its most difficult stage without food and essential commodities. There is acute shortage of fuel, which has affected students not being able to go to schools and colleges. Hospitals have run out of oxygen, there is shortage of medicines," it said.
Unrest in Manipur was sparked after the government's decision not to allow a Naga leader to visit his birthplace on grounds that it would provoke ethnic tensions.
Consequently, Naga groups in the state forced economic blockades leading to hospitals running out of medicines, acute fuel shortages and food rationing.
A litre of petrol is reportedly selling as high as Rs 220, while a cooking gas cylinder is being sold at anywhere between Rs 1,500 and Rs 1,700.
Dr Hrangthan Chhungi of National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) who last week travelled the state expressed shock over the skyrocketing prices and depravity of healthcare.
"The violence has totally paralysed life. As a matter of fact, the victims of this economic blockade are the poor women and children who barely can manage their daily needs," says Chhungi.
She urged for prayers so that violence can come to a halt and life of innocent people can be protected.
Manipur's Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh has apparently sent a delegation of Church leaders to Nagaland to sort out the crisis.
Government spokesperson N. Biren Singh told reporters that a nine-member delegation of the All Manipur Christian Organisation left to Nagaland on a goodwill mission.
“The Church delegation with church leaders in Nagaland will appeal to the All Naga Students Association, Manipur, and the United Naga Council to call off the indefinite economic blockade imposed on the Imphal-Dimapur and Imphal-Jiribam highways,” Biren Singh said, as reported by The Telegraph.
The chief minister is hoping that the Church leaders in Manipur and Nagaland will be able to convince the Naga students groups to lift the economic blockade that has brought life to standstill.