After lull, violence in Manipur amid home minister Amit Shah’s call for peace
Dozens of houses were set on fire and gunfights raged between suspected militants and security forces in several districts of Manipur on Wednesday, shattering a daylong lull in violence as Union home minister Amit Shah went about his peace mission in the ethnic cauldron with visits to two relief camps – one sheltering displaced Kuki tribals and the other, Meitei families.
The arson was concentrated in Imphal East, but gunshots reverberated through the valley and the hills as security forces went after suspected militants targeting civilians at various places, including Bishnupur and Churachandpur. Two people were reported wounded in the crossfire.
Shah, who is scheduled to hold a presser in Imphal at 11am on Thursday, held yet another security review with senior officials in the state capital, directing them to “take stern and prompt action to prevent violence by armed miscreants, recover looted weapons and bring back normalcy at the earliest”. CM N Biren Singh asked mobs that looted armouries of the Assam Rifles and India Reserve Battalion to return the stolen weapons and ammunition, warning of stern action if they didn’t take heed.
The state government extended the ban on internet services, clamped on May 3, till June 5.
Shah capped his visit to Moreh, on the India-Myanmar border, and Kangpokpi, with a tweet reaffirming the Centre’s commitment to restoring peace in Manipur. He said the people of the state were “keen to actively participate with the government in reviving harmony among communities in Manipur”. After visiting a relief camp in Imphal housing displaced Meitei people, Shah again tweeted, “Our resolve remains focused on leading Manipur back to the track of peace and harmony once again and their return to their homes at the earliest.”
After visiting a relief camp in Imphal housing displaced Meitei people, Union home minister Amit Shah tweeted again, “Our resolve remains focused on leading Manipur back to the track of peace and harmony once again and their return to their homes at the earliest.”
The home minister, who arrived in the state late Monday on a fourday trip, started the third day of his outreach in Moreh, about 100km from Imphal. He met a delegation of the hill tribal council, Kuki Students’ Organisation, Kuki Chiefs’ Association, Tamil Sangam, Gorkha Samaj and Manipuri Muslim council in the border town. He then visited a village almost reduced to ashes in arson.
In Kangpokpi, another violenceravaged district, hundreds of Kuki tribals greeted him by waving the tricolour. CM Biren Singh, a Meitei, didn’t accompany the home minister during his visit to the Kuki belt.
In Kangpokpi, Shah spoke to members of the Committee on Tribal Unity, Kuki Inpi Manipur, Thadou Inpi, among others. He assured them of steps to resume supplies and a helicopter service for emergencies in Churachandpur, Moreh and Kangpokpi. CRPF inspector general Rajiv Singh, an IPS officerwhose intercadre deputation from Tripura to Manipur was ordered by the Centre Tuesday, reached Imphal in the evening. He is likely to be given a key post inManipur Police.
Meitei village may form ‘civilian force’
Meitei villagers and local leaders warned the Centre and Manipur government at a wellattended public meeting in Tentha village of Thoubal district Tuesday that theywould form a “civilian defence force” to protect the people against repeated attacks by suspected Kuki militants, if the authorities failed to stop the violence and take steps to restore peace in the state by Thursday.
“The decisions are legal and not against the government. We will extend all possible help to the government to maintain peace and harmony. If the Centre and state government fail…we will put our resolutions into action,” gram panchayat head N Pradeep said Wednesday. The warning followed the founding of a “peace and protection committee” by local clubs and Meira Paibis (women’s groups) in the Moirang area of Bishnupur district, which borders the hill district of Churachandpur from where the ethnic clashes spread and claimed 100 plus lives since May 3.
