Category: IMPHAL

Four days after the lifting of internet ban in strife-torn Manipur, the state government on Tuesday once again suspended internet services for five days till October 1 following the massive students’ agitation on Tuesday in protest against the killing of two young students by unidentified assailants, officials said.

At least 34 students, including girls, were injured after hundreds of students took to the streets in Imphal on Tuesday to protest against the killing of two young students by unidentified armed assailants.

A day after announcing the suspension of the “Free Movement Regime (FMR)” with Myanmar, Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Sunday held a meeting with senior officials of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) to erect border fencing along the India-Myanmar border in the state.

Though a very challenging task, the recovery of thousands of looted guns and ammunition is now the top priority for the authorities in ethnic violence hit Manipur as less than one third of such weapons have been recovered in the past 115 days.

Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Saturday said that the ‘Free Movement Regime (FMR)” with Myanmar which allows people on either side to travel up to 16 km inside of either country is suspended at the moment and that the Centre has been requested to permanently close the FMR with the state.

In wake of a series of massive agitation for the past six days by many civil society organisations, a special NIA court here on Friday granted conditional bail to all five youths who were arrested on September 16 wearing security forces uniforms and armed with sophisticated weapons.

Thousands of agitators, mostly women, tried to storm various police stations in five valley districts -- Bishnupur, Kakching, Thoubal, Imphal West, and Imphal East -- but the huge contingent of Rapid Action Force and other security forces prevented them by firing tear gas shells.

The 48-hour shutdown, called by various civil society organisations and local clubs across the state demanding unconditional release of five ‘village protection volunteers’, hit normal life in Manipur’s five valley districts for the second day on Wednesday.

Soma, who has acted in over 150 Manipuri films and bagged numerous awards, clarified that there were certain misjudgments over her participation at the New Delhi event on Saturday.

Normal life was badly affected in the valley areas of Manipur on Tuesday as various civil society organisations called a 48-hour shut down across the state demanding unconditional release of five ‘village protection volunteers’.

The Manipur government on Monday constituted an one man Inquiry Commission to probe the killing of Indian Army soldier Serto Thangthang Kom, who was home on leave.

At least 10 people, including a security force personnel, were injured during a clash between a mob and the Rapid Action Force (RAF) while security forces have recovered four looted arms and 138 different types of ammunition from Imphal East district on Sunday, officials said.

Police officials said that three armed men abducted Serto Thangthang Kom, 49, of the Defence Service Corps (DSC), from his house at Tarung, Happy Valley in Imphal West district, at gunpoint on Saturday. 

A combined team of Central and state security forces on Saturday recovered 15 weapons including 14 improvised mortars, one single barrel gun and other war-like stores at Khodang village in Manipur’s Churachandpur district.

In a fresh move, 23 MLAs of the BJP-led government in Manipur have signed a resolution expressing their pledge to protect the territorial integrity of the state. They will also go to Delhi soon to urge the Centre to maintain the existing territorial boundary of the ethnic violence ravaged state.

Around 4,800 houses have been burnt and destroyed in Manipur during the ethnic violence, which so far killed over 170 people and injured more than 700 besides displacing over 70,000 people of different communities. 

“I thus request my fellow legislators to come back to the state and work unitedly for a peaceful and prosperous Manipur or resign from their respective posts honourably and continue with their demand and contest from some other state,” he said.

The Manipur Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has taken up a suo-moto case against the recent "forced shifting" of Kuki families from Imphal, reportedly by the state authorities, and issued a notice to the state government on this count.

Over 30 protestors, including women, were injured in a clash with the security forces, who also fired several rounds of teargas shells to disperse the thousands of men and women who tried to break security barricades at Phougakchao Ikhai in Manipur's Bishnupur district on Wednesday, officials said.

Apprehending serious law and order problems, the Manipur government has cancelled curfew relaxations in Meitei-dominated five valley districts on Wednesday and massive security measures put in place in view of the protest march called by the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI).

A day after the police registered an FIR against four members of Editors Guild of India (EGI), Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Monday said that the EGI report on Manipur ethnic conflict is "biased and factually inaccurate".

Normalcy would be restored in Manipur when the two groups, instead of clashing, initiate talks and the internally displaced persons return to their place of origin, a senior former Indian Army officer from the state said on Sunday.

The officials of the Social Welfare Department, who compiled data on children staying in different relief camps, said that out of around 12,700 children, 100 are severely traumatised needing professional counselling.

Former Deputy National Security Adviser D. D. Padsalgikar, who was appointed by the Supreme Court to monitor and supervise cases handed over to CBI and those of SITs, met Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey and apprised her of the current crisis in the state.

The five slain people included L.S Mangboi Lhungdim, 50, who composed the song "I Gam Hilou Ham (Is this not our land?)" after the ethnic violence broke out in Manipur on May 3. His songs became a rallying cry for tribal unity.