Category: IMPHAL

One person died while four others, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), sustained injuries in a gunfight between two armed groups in Manipur’s Imphal East district on Tuesday, the police said.

Champu Khangpok -- the floating village on Manipur’s internationally famed Loktak Lake -- and classified as a wetland of international significance by the Ramsar Convention has always taken a center stage in the Manipuri society.

In fresh incidents of violence, two village volunteers were killed and five others injured after their makeshift camp was attacked in the bordering areas of Kangpokpi and Imphal West district in Manipur on Tuesday, the police said.

One village volunteer was killed while four others were injured during a gunfight between two armed groups in Manipur on Saturday, the police said.

Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Sunday expressed dissatisfaction over the manner in which the Central forces have been dealing with the current crisis in the northeastern state impacted by ethnic violence that first broke out on May 3 last year.

Terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi led 10-years governance as “anyay kaal” (period of injustice), the Congress on Sunday launched the 66-day long Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from Manipur’s Thoubal district.

Three of northeast India's most important ecosystems - Rudrasagar Lake in Tripura, Deepor Beel in Assam and Loktak Lake in Manipur are categorised as wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.

After Mizoram and Manipur, Assam, Tripura and other northeastern states are also facing a serious threat of drugs, mostly smuggled from Myanmar and traded to Bangladesh, different states of India and other countries.

Police officials in Imphal said that the suspected Kuki militants targeted the vehicles carrying police commandos and Border Security Personnel as they were en route the border town Moreh close to Myanmar injuring five police commandos and a BSF rifleman.

A civilian volunteer was killed in a gunfight with unidentified persons in Manipur's Imphal West district while unidentified militants and police commandos exchanged heavy gunfire in Moreh in which a police commando was injured, an official said on Saturday.

Celebrations were subdued in ethnic violence-devastated Manipur, but Christmas was celebrated with cheer, joy, and festivities in other northeastern states, like Mizoram, Meghalaya, and Nagaland.

The move by the government to reintroduce inter-district travel garnered widespread appreciation, particularly from non-tribal and neutral tribal natives who saw this initiative as a means of re-establishing crucial connections between the districts in turmoil.

The 30th Imphal Book Fair, which was supposed to conclude on Thursday, was extended by another three days on public demand, indicating the resilience in the face of adversity due to the prevailing situation.

The drug menace has replaced militancy as the prime threat in the northeastern states owing to the region’s close proximity to Myanmar, which according to the Southeast Asia Opium Survey 2023, is the world’s biggest opium producer.

Speaking to the media, CoTU's Information and Publicity Secretary, Thangtinlen Haokip said that the attack on the tribals on Monday by the militants once again clearly indicated their aggression in the Kuki-Zo-dominated territory.

Cyclone 'Midhili' would hit Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, parts of Assam and other parts of northeastern states when it crossed to Bangladesh coast on Friday night or in the early hours of Saturday.

The five-day long Durga Puja festivities have gripped the people of the northeastern states, especially the puja revellers in Assam and Tripura. The festivities being organised in ethnic violence devastated Manipur in much subdued manner.

The unceasing five-month long ethnic conflict in Manipur, apart from claiming over 180 lives, leaving a trail of destruction and displacing over 70,000 people of various communities, has also exhausted the dreams of a large number of people, especially students studying professional courses.

Following a massive students’ agitations, the Manipur government had on September 26, two days after the ban was lifted after 143 days, had suspended mobile internet data services, internet/data services for five days before extending it again till October 6.  

The Congress-led 10 like-minded parties bloc in Manipur on Thursday said that the "double engine governments" of the BJP at the Centre and the state had, even after five months, utterly failed to restore peace and normalcy in the state.

The commission headed by its Chairman Justice Utpalendu Bikas Saha (retired) also asked the Commissioner (Home) to inform it how much interim compensation could be provided to the injured students on or before the next date of hearing of the case.

Even though the four-month long (June to September) Southwest monsoon yet to withdraw from the northeastern region, three of the eight states of the region -- Assam, Manipur and Mizoram -- witnessed deficient monsoon rainfall due to lack of rain-bearing clouds and monsoon troughs from the Bay of Bengal.

He said that on the direction of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, a special CBI team led by the agency's Special Director Ajay Bhatnagar, along with five officers, have been camping in Manipur since September 27.

The Chief Minister said the unrest was instigated by a group of people who want to disintegrate the state, but the crisis has been "made to look like" an ethnic or communal clash, or religion based, or between the "majority and minority groups".

Kangliepak Kanba Lup (KKL), an Imphal-based civil body, which put a three-year ban on Manipuri film actor Soma Laishram, lifted the interdict on Saturday, giving a breather to the 31-year-old film star.