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| SPO trainees at the sit-in in Imphal on Monday. (PTI) |
Imphal, Dec 30 : The special police officer trainees from Heirok village in Manipur’s Thoubal district today brought their agitation out of the barracks to press for a decision on their future.
The SPOs, who were recruited from Heirok in May this year to be raised as a village protection force, have been abstaining from daily training sessions for the past nine days since December 21.
They had launched their agitation the previous day with a sit-in at the training ground of the Manipur Police Training School in Pangei, Imphal East.
Today, they staged a hunger strike at the main entrance of the training school. Of the 301 SPOs from Heirok, 260 went without food from 7am to 4pm and held placards reading “What is the reality and future of SPO?” and “We want to save our village”. The rest have left for home.
“As our nine-day democratic form of protest failed to move the government, we decided to launch the hunger strike. This is not the end. We will do other things as well to force the government to decide our fate,” a spokesperson for the SPOs said.
“If the government does not respond to our hunger strike, we will request the Union home ministry to intervene into the SPO deadlock,” he added.
Officials of the training school tried to persuade the SPOs not to go on hunger strike, but the recruits were firm on their demand for construction of barracks at Heirok and deployment at the village for its protection.
The state government had recruited the SPOs after Heirok demanded weapons for self-protection. The demand came after the militant Peoples Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak killed three villagers in March. The training for the SPOs began on June 23.
Initially the SPOs were told that the training would last one month, but it was extended to three months. But the training has not completed even after six months and the government has not fixed a date for it either. The government has also not taken any steps to construct the barracks.
Sources said the threat by two militant groups to Heirok villagers against the formation of the village protection force and acceptance of arms from the government has forced the latter to delay the plan for construction of the barracks.
However, faced by an uncertain future, the SPOs are feeling demoralised. “We were recruited for protection of our village. How long can we stay like this without knowing our future? We are also facing threats from militants. We are completely demoralised,” one of them said.
“We will decide our next course of action soon,” the spokesperson said.