The Indian Army has launched a massive search operation for a man who went missing from the fringe areas of the Imphal Valley two days ago. Laishram Kamalbabu Singh, a works supervisor for a contractor working with the Military Engineering Services (MES) in Leimakhong Military Station, disappeared after leaving home on Monday afternoon to report for work. The Army is using all its resources, including tracker dogs, drones, and aerial platforms, to locate Singh. The incident has led to tensions in the area, with hundreds of people from the Meitei community demanding information about Singh's whereabouts.
In Kerala's society, known for its high material standard of living, plunging into a state of having nothing overnight can be terrible for one's social standing and sense of self-esteem. Rehabilitation entails piecing a community back together after a disturbance and while its aim is noble, the act of reassembling will bring alive disparities and inequalities, explains Shyam G Menon.
In the months immediately following the 2024 tragedy, reporting on the landslide per se had been a straightforward affair. On one side was death and destruction. On the other side, survivors and the business of survival. It was black and white. What direction to take was clear. Rehabilitation in comparison, felt like a complex situation. One that is fraught with shades of grey. As grey as human life, explains Shyam G Menon.
The Manipur government has accused Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma of stoking hatred and division through "unwarranted comments" and called on him to display "better statesmanship" by being a "good neighbour". In a statement, the Manipur government alleged that Lalduhoma's comments were part of a "greater agenda" to carve out a Kuki-Chin Christian nation from contiguous areas of Myanmar, India, and Bangladesh. It also warned against any attempt to "push" illegal Kuki-Chin immigrants from Mizoram into Manipur for land grabbing and the creation of a "Greater Mizoram." The Mizoram government could not be reached immediately for comment.
The Kuki-Zo Council called for a 13-hour shutdown in Manipur's hill areas on Tuesday, demanding an investigation into the death of 11 people in a clash with security forces in Jiribam. The shutdown, which began at 5 am, saw schools, markets, and public transport remain closed. Various Kuki-Zo organizations, including the Kuki Students' Organisation, the Zomi Students' Federation, and the Hmar Students' Association, demanded a probe into the incident, accusing the Central Reserve Police Force of "treacherous murder." The Hmar Village Volunteers, who were identified by the Kuki-Zo groups as the victims, condemned the incident and called for intervention from the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Curfew was relaxed in three Imphal Valley districts on Tuesday and the suspension on broadband internet lifted with conditions, even as Chief Minister N Biren Singh blamed the Congress for the present crisis in Manipur and NDA MLAs called for a "mass operation" against militants responsible for the killing of six women and children. Peaceful rallies were also staged across the state, with hundreds taking to the streets with empty coffins in Churachandpur district, demanding justice for those killed in a gunfight with the security forces in Jiribam, and members of various civil society organisations bringing out a procession in Imphal West district to protest the reimposition of AFSPA in parts of the state.
'I have always looked at people and said, 'You just have to accept. You just have to love. You just have to let this person be and the trouble would be less.' 'But we keep complicating things, and that is the tragedy -- our desire not to understand.'
The death toll in the BEST bus accident in Mumbai has risen to seven, officials on Tuesday said as experts inspected the wet leased vehicle to ascertain if it had any mechanical fault.
'The kind of situation we are seeing...we don't believe that this can happen in a settled democracy like India'
15 to 25 per cent of property registrations in Mumbai come from redevelopment, with over 3,500 projects approved by May 2024.
Around 20 MLAs belonging to the warring Meitei and Kuki communities of Manipur met in New Delhi on Tuesday for the first time since ethnic violence broke out in the northeastern state 17 months ago, in a bid to hammer out a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict.
'The present generation, either due to historical amnesia or political propaganda, has been fed a narrative that paints India as an adversary rather than an ally.'
'Trump's disregard for norms and institutions could prove very costly for America's social fabric.'
Government was watching Gandhiji's mood to know if he had cooled down. They found out from his letters and utterances that he was the same old firebrand and even more determined than before.
The CM also said that to prevent the sale of land from the indigenous communities like tribals and Adivasis to others in undivided Goalpara district, a strong law will be brought.
As many as 57 arms, 318 pieces of ammunition and five bombs have been recovered in Manipur, taking the total number of recovered arms and ammunition to 868 and 11,518, respectively, security advisor to Manipur government Kuldiep Singh said on Wednesday.
Addressing the sixth convocation at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, the chief minister said the heinous act of the perpetrators "has shocked us as a society" and showed that the value system was facing a crisis.
In violence-hit Manipur, the general buzz associated with elections and the related paraphernalia of posters, banners and rallies are missing but it is the presence of these brown boxes with pictures of guns that is symbolic of the strife-ridden society struggling to return to normalcy.
The Supreme Court on Monday came to the rescue of 284 students from ethnic violence-hit Manipur by giving them the option of attending classes online at Manipur university or getting relocated to Assam University in Silchar or the North East Hill University in Shillong.
A majority of over 50,000 internally displaced people are currently staying at relief centres across five valley districts and three hill districts.
People in Bangladesh have welcomed the new interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, hoping it would restore order, end repression and hold a fair election to facilitate a democratic transition of power.
The ban was imposed on her by civil society group Kangleipak Kanba Lup for taking part in the event held in Delhi, amid the ongoing violence in Manipur.
The statements the separatists make, the abominable tableaux at their parades, the slogans, posters, and selfies with assault rifles are not India's problem. If they are a nuisance, it should bother their host countries, because they are armed and have their own underworld with deadly gang rivalries. Significantly, none of this happens in the US -- only in snowflaky Canada, points out Shekhar Gupta.
The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Manipur government, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to file reports elaborating on the status of probe and the charge sheets filed in cases of ethnic-violence to help it take a decision on whether the trials can commence in Assam or be undertaken in Manipur.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a review meeting in Moreh town of Manipur on Wednesday to take stock of the security situation in the northeastern state which has been witnessing sporadic violence for nearly a month.
'There are ominous portents of an isolationist administration not only building a physical wall to the south to prevent unwanted immigrants from entering the land of milk and honey, but also trade walls not just against China, but all nations,' foresees Sreekant Sambrani.
The high court, which perused the material collected by the investigating agencies, said Kavitha was prima facie involved in the payment of kickbacks in various processes and activities relating to proceeds of crime and in the commission of the offence of money laundering.
The Kukis have already declared that they are not fielding any candidate in the parliamentary polls as an act of boycott.
The monk, Amogh Lila Das, criticised Swami Vivekananda for eating fish, stating that a virtuous person can never harm a living being.
'Till the time the chief minister continues to have command over the state forces, we don't think that gives any hope of peace coming back to Manipur.'
Manipur witness more violence on Tuesday when unidentified armed men, suspected to be cadres of banned terror groups, attacked people from the tribal community in the morning killing three of them in Kangpokpi district, officials said.
Chief Minister Zoramthanga, deputy CM Tawnluia, ministers, and MLAs of the state cutting across party lines took part in the massive protest rally in Aizawl.
Over 1,300 people signed the open letter within 48 hours, which was submitted to the Prime Minister's Office on Monday.
Yunus, 84, was administered the oath of office by President Mohammed Shahabuddin at a ceremony at the presidential palace 'Bangabhaban'.
A Delhi court on Monday denied interim bail to Bharat Rashtra Samiti leader K Kavitha, arrested in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, saying prima facie she not only destroyed evidence but was also instrumental in influencing witnesses and there is 'every likelihood' of her continuing to do so in case the relief is granted.
'If the government can conduct elections during such a time, I am sure they can find ways to bring peace and address the concerns of people. Everything that we had built over the years got burnt and now we are supposed to start our lives from scratch and we should also vote?'
Living separately and refusing to co-exist in future, many members of both Kukis and Meitis communities ask - why elections at this time and what difference will they make?
ZSF President Nengzalian Tonsing, who filed the FIR at Churachandpur police station on July 13, accused Tapta of promoting enmity between different communities.
"Indians will decide the fate of India, not the foreigners," Verma told the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations, a prominent think-tank.
'Meiteis started feeling insecure stating that the illegal immigrant population is growing in the valley, and that the majority community would become a minority.'
