Manipur Violence: The cycle of violence in Manipur is showing no sign of stopping. Every day some incidents of violence are coming to light. In this series, despite security arrangements and curfew in Manipur’s Imphal Valley, a mob tried to attack the vacant ancestral house of state Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Thursday night. However, the security forces foiled the mob’s intention of vandalism and arson by firing in the air. In this case, the police said that an attempt was made to attack the ancestral residence of the Chief Minister in Hingang area of Imphal. However, the security forces stopped the crowd about 100 to 150 meters before the residence. The police officer said that now no one lives in this house, although it is guarded 24 hours a day. He said the RAF and state police personnel fired tear gas shells to disperse the crowd. During this, the protesters also burnt tires in the middle of the nearby road.
The crowd became furious over the death of two youths
Let us tell you that in Manipur, students had protested violently on Tuesday and Wednesday regarding the death of two youths. The mob had also vandalized the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Imphal West district on Thursday and set fire to two four-wheelers. Earlier on Wednesday, curfew was reimposed in two districts of Imphal East and West and 65 protesters have been injured in the clashes since Tuesday. A day after photographs of the bodies of two people – a man and a girl – who went missing in July were circulated on social media, a fresh incident of violence was reported in the state capital on Tuesday.
Militants roaming freely in Imphal Valley
Here, militants are roaming freely in Imphal Valley. Not only this, he has also been seen instigating the crowd. At the same time, the crowd in Imphal Valley has become furious after the pictures of two missing teenagers surfaced. Security agencies said that during the attacks on the police team by the mob, armed men wearing black uniforms were seen directing the angry youth to attack the police. After this many vehicles were set on fire. Security agencies have been warning that militants from the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and other banned groups have become part of the crowd and are carrying out covert attacks on security forces as well as directing protesters. Are.
Recently, the presence of militants was found within the crowd which attacked security forces near Palel in Tengnoupal, injuring an Army Lieutenant Colonel. Central security agencies had warned about the possibility of militants joining the crowd during any protest to create tension in violence-hit Manipur. Apart from this, the miscreants in the crowd used pieces of iron, which were fired towards the security personnel with the help of automatic weapons. More than a dozen policemen, including an officer of the rank of Additional Superintendent of Police, were injured in the clashes that broke out in Imphal Valley after photographs of the missing teenagers surfaced. These teenagers are feared to have been killed during ethnic conflict.
Banned groups are becoming active again
Officials reiterated that the ongoing unrest has seen the activation of almost dormant banned groups like UNLF, PLA, Kanglei Yawol Kanba Lup (KYKL), Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) and People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK). Officials have also cautioned that the recent release of four youths in possession of lethal weapons looted from the police armory is an alarming signal and efforts should be intensified to nab them and book them under relevant sections of the law. He said that at present, the cadre strength of UNLF is 330, followed by 300 of PLA and 25 of KYKL who are active within the groups of the majority community.
The Army and Assam Rifles, acting on specific intelligence, arrested 12 KYKL operatives, including self-styled ‘Lieutenant Colonel’ Moirangthem Tamba alias Uttam, in East Imphal on June 24. Uttam was one of the masterminds of the 2015 ambush on the 6th Dogra Regiment, in which 18 army personnel were killed. Officials said that there is every possibility that the arms and ammunition looted from the Manipur Police armory may have reached these militant groups. He said the looted weapons included .303 rifles, medium machine guns (MMG) and AK assault rifles, carbines, INSAS light machine guns (LMG), INSAS rifles, M-16 and MP5 rifles.
Officials said around 4,537 weapons and 6.32 lakh bullets are missing mainly from the Manipur Police Training Center (MTPC) at Pangei in East Imphal, the 7th India Reserve Battalion and the 8th Manipur Rifles, which are based at Khabeisoi in Imphal city.
According to officials, 2,900 of the weapons stolen were of lethal category while others included teargas and mini flare guns. Repeated appeals by the leaders have yielded no results as none of the looted weapons have been recovered except those returned in the last week of July.
No progress has been made even on cremation of dead bodies and opening of supply routes from Imphal to the hilly areas. More than 180 people have been killed and hundreds injured since caste violence broke out in Manipur on May 3. A series of violent incidents started after the organization of ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ in the hill districts in protest against the demand of the majority Meitei community to give them Scheduled Tribe status.
