As many as eight CSOs on Tuesday questioned the credibility of the allegations raised by Meetei Leepun against human right defender Babloo Loitongbam, and demanded proof of the accusations.
The CSOs are Apunba Ireipakki Maheiroi Sinpanglup (AIMS), League of Indigenous People’s Up-liftment (LIPUL), Meeyamgi Pothok Puthok Lup (MPPL), Iramdam kanba Apunba Lup (IKAL), Loiyalam Apunba Loumi Lup (LALLUP), Leihou Khunai Kanba Apunba Luptin (LKKAL), People’s United Youth Alliance (PUYA) amasung and Iramdam Sinpanggi Apunba Khutpu (ISAK).
A joint release issued by the said CSOs questioned the facts behind the allegations that Babloo Loitongbam is anti-Meitei and helping the Kukis in connection with the conflict.
On failing to provide the proof of the accusations, Meitei Leepun will likely be considered as an organisation indulged in peddling fake news and spreading disinformation to the public, it stated.
If Babloo Loitongbam has worked against the people and conspired to break the territorial integrity of the state, then legal action should be carried out against him, it said. Otherwise the eight organisations strongly condemn the act of resorting to mob justice without determining the facts, threatening his family members and banning him from appearing in public platforms with an intent to demoralise him, it stated.
It appealed to the state government, which is enforcing the rule of law, to urgently look into the matter.
Regarding the act of forcefully making one Jos Chongtham to make a statement that he was instigated by a few people to forward a message to a WhatsApp group called ‘Be the change We support Oja Bimol’, it stated that the episode was extremely unfortunate if true, it mentioned.
No CSOs, groups and individuals in the state deserve to be treated with such forms of brutality, it said. It further advised Meitei Leepun to refrain from continuing such activities in the future. In this modern age, no one has the right to abduct, terrorize or hand out physical punishments to people until they make public clarifications before a camera on social media, it added.
The release further condemned the prohibitions and gagging of intellectuals, academicians and social activists on public platforms.
It appealed to all concerned to put a halt on the agenda to drive a wedge among the Meitei community by certain groups and private individuals who are throwing a wrench into the efforts being made to unite the people.
If the state government remains a mute spectator to these vigilante groups who are inciting mobs, vandalising houses, terrorising families and abducting people from their homes at will, then it will be considered that the state government is deeply complicit in the agenda to break the Meitei community, it added.
