Coalition Against Drugs and Alcohol (CADA) has been spearheading the protests in collaboration with local clubs and Meira Paibi organisations at different places in the state. Lhukhosei Zou along with six others were acquitted on December 17, 2020 by an ND&PS court while convicting two individuals.
TFM Desk
More than a month after an ND&PS court acquitted former Chandel ADC chairman Lhukhosei Zou and six others while convicting two in the multi-crore drug haul case, CSOs and Meira Paibi organisations continue their relentless protest against the acquittal.
On Friday, Nongmaileima Apunba Meira Paibi and Coalition Against Drugs and Alcohol (CADA) jointly organised a sit-in at Keirao Wangkhem, Imphal East District against the acquittal of Lhukhosei Zou from whose official quarter a huge amount of drugs worth around Rs 27 crore were seized, a release said.
Speaking on the issue, CADA vice president Dipanjit Ningthoujam said that the government’s “War on Drugs” has become a “joke”. The acquittal of Lhukhosei Zou and discharging of the accused including a Myanmar citizen by a court in relation to the seizure of drugs worth Rs 400 crore by Thoubal police in August 2019 have caused a state of delusion amongst the people, he added.
Amidst the uproar demanding to punish drug smugglers, the government’s proposal to legalise alcohol in the ensuing Budget session of the Manipur Legislative Assembly can be taken as a hidden agenda to drown the people of the state in the sea of illicit substances, he asserted.
One of the Imas who participated in the sit-in lamented that it has become a heartache for the parents to see their children being affected by the menace of drugs. Condemning the acquittal of Lhukhosei Zou, she urged the government to punish the drug smugglers as per the law of the land to save the future generations.
The release further said that slogans like “We are against acquittal of Lhukhosei Zou”, “Punish Drug Smugglers”, “Don’t make War on Drugs a joke,” amongst others were also shouted by the protestors.