Tura, Sept 30th : The victims of the 30th of September shootout which saw the loss of 9 lives along with numerous people of the region being incapacitated due the indiscriminate shootings, remembered by the people of the region. A crowd of more than 1500 people gathered to witness the condolence messages as well as pay their respects to the departed souls.
The programme started with a few prayers to honour the people who lost their lives in the skirmish with the police on the 30th of June, 2005. The agitators were against the bifurcation of the MBOSE. When things turned bad, the police fired upon the agitators. An enquiry had been launched which pointed the administration being at fault. However, most of the complaints had been about not enough action was done to ensure the people behind the episode were taken to task.
The gathered assembly of people listened to the speeches made by the Church Leaders as well as the NGOs of Tura. Rev. Dilseng M Sangma spoke to the crowd about the development of the tribe during his exhortation speech. He said that the Garos needed to look at the cosmopolitan nature of society and the respect the ways of life. He spoke about the dignity of living as well as stating that it was only until recently that bad things were happening in the Garo society. He criticized the development of individuals within the Garo society which until recently had never attached the Garos itself. However, of late this has been a trend and the unity that was a norm in Garo culture has now become an exception.
The families of the victims then lit candles in the places where the four victims in Tura died after which a one minute silence was observed. The President of GSU, Thengsak G Momin, then spoke about the sacrifices of the people killed and stated that everyone fighting should remember the day and it should be aptly remembered as “martyr’s day” due to the sacrifices made by the victims. This was followed by the presentation of floral wreaths to the parents of the victims.
After a vote of thanks by the President of AYWO, Adinson Ch Momin, the crowd gathered lit candles to remember the deeds of the victims. A huge number of candles were lit to remember the event and pray for the family of the victims. The event was organized by FKJGP, AYWO, APSDO, GSU and ADE who worked through the day to make the event something that would be remembered and would help remember the victims.(SP News)
