Meitei women shave head in symbolic protest against Manipur situation

Seven Meitei women shaved their heads and staged a cycle rally to spread the message of peace and unity in the ethnic violence hit Manipur on Friday, which marks one year of strife. The women wearing black clothes rode from Sekmai, a fringe village to Kangla, at the heart of Imphal, covering a distance of at least 19 km. The woman rode bicycles with placards reading "We want peace. No to separate administration, protect territorial integrity." Kh Shanti, a middle-aged woman who accompanied the seven women said, "Shaving off hair is a symbolic gesture and to protest the government's inability to check on periodic gun attacks on fringe areas of Imphal valley by militants based in adjacent hill areas of Churachandpur and Kangpokpi. We all are tired. We want peace." M Sobita Devi, a Meira Paibi leader said at Kangla, said: "May 3 marks the completion of one year of violence in the state. Today we once again remember the losses and atrocities committed on farmers, daily wage earners of Torbung and Phougakchao which was attacked by an armed mob from Churachandpur without provocation"