Imphal, Sept. 16: With students of Manipur University joining the class boycott agitation, police today launched a hunt for student leaders as part of the counter-measures to restore academic activities.
All schools and colleges in the four valley districts of Manipur have been paralysed since September 9 with students staying away from classes following a boycott call by the All Manipur Students Union (Amsu) and Manipuri Students Federation (MSF). Private coaching and tuition centres have also closed.
The student organisations launched the agitation in support of the Apunba Lup’s campaign demanding the resignation of chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh and punishment to police commandos involved in the July 23 shootout here.
The Apunba Lup has alleged that a pregnant woman, Rabina Devi, and former militant Ch. Sanjit were killed by police commandos in a fake encounter.
Manipur University, which had not been affected by the agitation till yesterday, did not hold any classes today after students stayed away following the Manipur University Students Union (Musu)’s decision to join the campaign.
“No classes were held today as only a few students turned up at the university,” a teacher in the university’s economics department said. However, the department held its annual freshers’ meet today.
The class boycott continued despite appeals by education minister L. Jayentakumar Singh and a threat by the education commissioner, P.K. Singh, that affiliations would be cancelled if private schools were found closed.
Sources said the education department had constituted teams for surprise inspection of attendance of teachers. Singh appealed to parents and guardians to send their children to schools.
The police picked up the fathers of two Amsu leaders yesterday afternoon after they failed to locate the student leaders. Irengbam Ranjit, 58, the father of Amsu president James Bond Mangang, and Khangembam Mangi, 87, the father of Amsu vice-president Kh. Khaba, were picked up from their respective houses at Kwakeithel and Thangmeiband in Imphal West. The police freed them after asking them to produce their sons.
Residents of Thangmeiband condemned the picking up of an elderly man. Mangi is a leading exponent of pena (a traditional Manipuri violin-like instrument) and winner of the Sangeet Natak Akademi award.