Category: MANIPUR

• IMPHAL

Amid the ethnic violence in Manipur, an apex body of seven militant outfits in Manipur on Saturday gave a call to boycott Independence Day programmes, besides calling for a 17-hour general shutdown on August 15.

Thousands of women on Friday participated in sit-in demonstrations in Manipur’s five valley districts in protest against the alleged gang rape of a 37-year-old woman in Churachandpur on May 3 and demanded a CBI probe into the crime.

Manipur BJP MLA Rajkumar Imo Singh said on Thursday that Union Home Minister Amit Shah, during his speech in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, presented very important and pertinent points regarding the present conflict in the state.  

Another horrific case of rape and torture has come to light in ethnic violence-hit Manipur after the survivor -- now living in a relief camp -- filed a detailed complaint with the police unfolding the crime that took place on May 3.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday assured the tribal leaders from Manipur that security will be further tightened in the hill and tribal areas of the northeastern state.

A massive rally was organised by the Naga tribals in Manipur on Wednesday demanding resolution of the decades-old Naga political issue based on the Framework Agreement, signed between the Central government and the NSCN-IM on August 3, 2015.

The Army on Wednesday said that some hostile elements have made desperate, repeated and failed attempts to question the role, intent and integrity of the central security forces, especially the Assam Rifles, working relentlessly in Manipur since the ethnic violence erupted on May 3.

A police officer in Imphal said that Assam Rifles jawans, led by their officers, had last week blocked police vehicles on the Kwakta Gothol road while the police were going to undertake operations against militants.

A meeting between Home Minister Amit Shah and leaders of Manipur's Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF) was scheduled to take place on Tuesday but was not held as the Minister was busy with the Parliament session.

Manipur BJP MLA Rajkumar Imo Singh on Tuesday urged all MLAs, who have been demanding separate administrations for the tribals in the state, to attend the upcoming assembly session and discuss everything on the floor of the House and try to solve all issues together.

A police official said that heavy exchange of fire took place between the security forces and the armed attackers at Kwakta and Terakhongsangbi areas in Bishnupur district and at Mualngat, Gothol, Pholjang areas of Churachandpur district.

The Meira Paibi, an organisation of Meitei women, on Monday staged protests against Assam Rifles in five districts of the Manipur Valley, alleging that the para-military force had "unleashed atrocities" on the Meitei people.

The COCOMI said that the conflict can only be inferred to be pre-planned as tension started building up from April 27 after an open gym to be inaugurated by the Manipur Chief Minister was vandalised.

The Supreme Court on Monday said that it will constitute a three-judge committee headed by Justice Gita Mittal, former Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to look into “humanitarian” issues like relief, rehabilitation, remedial, etc., in the violence-hit Manipur.

Leaders of Manipur's Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF) will meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Tuesday to press for its demands, which include a separate state for the trinals.

With two MLAs in the Manipur Assembly, the Kuki People's Alliance (KPA) on Sunday withdrew its support from the BJP-led Manipur government, headed by Chief Minister N. Biren Singh.

Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), an umbrella body of the Meitei community, on Sunday announced indefinite social boycott to the Manipur government in protest against state government’s delay in convening the assembly session.

As over three month long ethnic violence continued in Manipur, the Home Ministry has deployed 10 additional companies of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) in the northeastern state, an official said here on Sunday. 

Normal life was crippled in five valley districts of Manipur on Saturday as various Meitei organisations called a 24-hour-long shutdown demanding to convene an urgent session of the state Assembly to pass a resolution on the ethnic violence.

Manipur BJP MLA Rajkumar Imo Singh on Saturday claimed that there were huge security lapses in the militant attack in Bishnupur district that killed three people earlier in the day, and demanded action against the paramilitary force personnel for their “negligence in duty”.

In a fresh incident of violence, three people, including an elderly man and his son, were killed in Manipur’s Bishnupur district on Saturday, police said.

The North East Students Organisation (NESO), an apex body of eight students’ associations of seven northeastern states, urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene into the Manipur crisis to prevent a long-term negative impact in the entire region.

The Manipur Police are undertaking a high-level probe into the loot of a large amount of arms and ammunition from two police outposts in Bishnupur district, Director General of Manipur Police Rajiv Singh said on Friday.

A Manipur Police statement late on Thursday night said that a mob stormed Keirenphabi Police outpost and Thangalawai Police outpost of Manipur Armed Police's 2nd Battalion in Bishnupur and took away a huge cache of arms and ammunition.

A 12-hour shutdown, called by the Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU), was observed in tribal-dominated Kangpokpi district on Thursday to mark 90 days of ethnic violence in Manipur.