Category: IMPHAL

A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan was killed and three other security personnel got injured when suspected militants ambushed a joint patrol party with the state police in Manipur’s Jiribam district on Sunday, police said.

The Congress staged protests in several northeastern states on Friday over alleged irregularities in the NEET and UGC-NET, demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and action against the guilty.

A police official said that the victim’s body was found in the Meijao Mamang Leikai area was found with a bullet wound on the back of the head. Police are probing the incident.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday stressed the strategic deployment of the central forces to restore peace and tranquillity in Manipur and directed the officials to ensure that no further incident of violence takes place in the northeastern state. 

Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey on Sunday called on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan and discussed the situation in the state, officials said adding that the President assured to extend all possible support.

As tension still prevails in Manipur's mixed-population Jiribam district, additional CRPF troopers have been deployed in the interior areas of its Borobekra subdivision to maintain peace and tranquillity, officials said on Sunday. 

A senior official said that the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister N. Biren Singh has decided to provide Rs 10,000 to every flood-affected family as immediate relief assistance.

In line with the rest of the country, the Congress put up an improved performance in the Lok Sabha elections in the eight northeastern states, which are now dominated by the BJP and its allies.  

Police said that several armed cadres of village volunteers opened indiscriminate fire on Koutruk village in the periphery of Imphal Valley from the adjoining hills in Kangpokpi district, and the armed village volunteers of rival ethnic groups retaliated.

Two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, including a Sub Inspector, were killed and two others have been injured after armed groups attacked a camp of security forces in Manipur’s Bishnupur district early on Saturday, police said.

Amidst stray incidents of violence, including vandalisation of polling booths, firing, and clashes, around 68 per cent of 15.44 lakh voters cast their votes in two Lok Sabha seats (one partially) in ethnic violence-hit Manipur on Friday, officials said.

The Kuki Inpi Sadar Hills (KISH), the apex body of the Kuki-Zomi tribal community, on Tuesday directed its members to abstain from participating in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah on Monday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government's priority is to establish peace, and ensure unity among all communities in Manipur.

After a lull of several weeks, two persons were killed on Saturday in fresh incidents of violence during a heavy exchange of firing at the tri-junction of Imphal East, Kangpokpi and Ukhrul districts, the police said.

Hectic preparations are underway ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah's much-expected visit to Manipur and Tripura on Monday to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections.

Despite the Election Commission’s all-out efforts to increase voting turnout in the 18th Lok Sabha polls, several thousand voters, mostly tribals, would miss to cast their vote in Manipur as they took shelter in neighbouring Mizoram and other states after the violence broke out in Manipur.

A multi-tier security arrangement has been put in place along the 5437-km long international borders with eight northeastern states to foil any cross-border illegal activities before and during the Lok Sabha elections.

Election officials both in Manipur and Mizoram separately said that no arrangements have been made so far to facilitate the voters from among the 10,000 refugees, now sheltered in different districts of Mizoram.

A defence spokesman said that Naib Subedar Konsam Kheda Singh, a resident of Charangpat Mamang Leikai in Thoubal district, was abducted while on leave from his residence on Friday morning.

Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh said on Monday that out of the 6,746 illegal Myanmar immigrants detected in Manipur since the ongoing ethnic conflict unfolded in the state on May 3 last year, 259 were sent back to their country till February 27 after recording their biometrics details.

A 24-year-old student was killed while another student was seriously injured in a blast near the DM University complex in Imphal late on Friday night, the police said on Saturday.

The Manipur High Court’s order modifying its March 27, 2023 order in part in in connection with the inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list has evoked mixed reactions from various quarters in the northeastern state.

Apart from the official report of a BSF jawan being injured in the onslaught, locals claimed that five elderly persons, including four women, died due to heart attacks since February 14.

Two persons were killed and over 40 others were injured in Churachandpur after security forces fired at a mob that stormed a government compound, which houses the offices of the SP and DC late on Thursday night.

Sources said a large number of village volunteers attempted to barge into the armoury of MPTC at Pangei to loot firearms on Tuesday night.