Imphal, Aug. 26: Manipur police and students of the state are all set for a confrontation tomorrow over a commemorative rally.

While the police are gearing up to enforce a ban imposed on the rally planned by the All Manipur Students Union (Amsu), the students are also fully prepared to defy the ban.

The students? organisation has been observing ?Hunger Marchers Day? on August 27 every year, with a rally to commemorate a students? uprising in 1965 against rice scarcity, in which four persons were killed in firing by government forces.

As in previous years, the Amsu has chalked out plans to pay floral tributes at Imphal?s Pishum Chinga Macha, where a memorial stone for the four slain persons was constructed. It will later take out a rally from the spot to Thau ground, also in Imphal, where a public meeting will be held.

While the district magistrate Y. Surchandra Singh has allowed the student organisation to assemble and pay floral tributes at the memorial, he has not granted any permission for the rally.

Amsu president Sinam Prakash criticised the government for banning the rally, iterating that the students were determined to carry out the rally despite the ban.

On the other hand, the police are also gearing up to enforce the ban. ?We don?t want a confrontation with the students, but since the district magistrate banned it, we will have to carry out the order,? a senior police official said.

In another development, the Amsu expressed strong reservations over the statement by North East Students Organisation (Neso) general secretary N.S.N. Lotha, who asked the Manipur government not to ?concretise? its declaration of the anniversary of the 2001 uprising as ?state integrity day?. He said this might provoke the Naga community into resuming the highway blockade.

Reacting to his statement carried by The Telegraph in its August 24 issue, Amsu publicity secretary N. Ajitkumar said Lotha had issued the statement as an individual and did not have the approval of the Neso as a whole. The Amsu is a member of the Neso.