Four-time world champion woman boxer MC Mary Kom wants to see peace returning to her violence-hit home state, Manipur.
Herself a victim of the continuing unrest in Manipur, this year's Khel Ratna awardee and four-time world champion woman boxer MC Mary Kom wants to see peace returning to her violence-hit home state.
As she prepares to receive the country's highest sporting honour tomorrow, Mary Kom said the situation back home is an "unsettling" thought.
"I want peace for Manipur. It should move ahead like the rest of the country. It should be one India with Manipur in it," the 27-year-old pugilist, whose father-in-law was shot dead in December 2006, said.
"I have myself experienced it (the volatile law and order situation). My father-in-law, who came to Delhi to support me during the 2006 World Championships, was shot dead in December that year. I still don't know why it happened. I don't know who did it," she recalled.
Although little about Manipur has been reported by the national media, the state has been on the boil over the past one month with civillian protests against the armed forces.
Locals allege that the men in uniform commit atrocities and some recently-released pictures of an alleged fake encounter have acted as fuel to the fire.
Asked what she thought of the existing Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the state which allows arrests and search operations without warrants, Mary Kom refused to comment but said she wants the situation to normalise.
"I pray that normalcy returns and there is peace. That's all, because certain things are not in my hand. I don't have the power to influence them, I can only pray," Mary Kom said.
"Yes it is unsettling and I hope things change for the better," she added.
The mother of two, however, gets all excited while talking about her plans for the 2012 London Olympics where women's boxing will make its debut after getting the International Olympic Committee's nod.
"It will be exciting. I hope I can go on to win the gold medal. That is a dream I am chasing right now," she said.
Chasing this dream, however, won't be easy as age will catch up but the diminutive boxer is optimistic.
"Getting the Khel Ratna has motivated me for the London Games. I have the determination and will and I hope to make my country proud," the pin weight pugilist, who will be in her 30s in 2012, said.
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