The Imphal Valley in Manipur remained peaceful but tense on Friday, however intermittent gunfights between militant groups and security forces were reported from the hill districts surrounding the valley.
Naga splinter groups impatient with stalled talks as well as rebel Manipuri groups who have a stake in disrupting upcoming elections to the state assembly, are believed to be regrouping in the borderlands of China's Yunnan province and Myanmar, taking advantage of the turmoil in the latter by using it as a transit corridor.
The Army and Assam Rifles were requisitioned in the night, and along with the state police, the forces arrested the violence by the morning, the spokesperson said.
The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act or AFSPA was extended by another six months in Manipur on Wednesday barring 19 police stations falling under the Imphal valley and an area that shares its boundary with neighbouring Assam.
'Everyone's voice must be heard. We will be talking to both Kukis and Meiteis'
The Central Bureau of Investigation has formed a 10-member special investigation team (SIT) under a DIG-rank officer to probe six cases related to the Manipur violence referred to it by the state government, officials said on Friday.
Stating that 35 weapons of different types, ammunition and warlike stores were recovered on the second day of joint combing operations on Thursday in the hills and valley sector, the official said that the security forces are adopting confidence building measure and a people centric approach to alleviate the hardships of the people, affected by the month-long ethnic strife in the northeastern state.
"Keeping in view the sensitivity of the use of kinetic force against a large irate mob and envisaged casualties due to such action, the officer on the ground made a considerate decision to hand over all 12 cadres to the local leader. Own columns lifted the cordon and left the area with weapons and war-like stores, recovered from insurgents," it read.
A bench of Justices SK Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia said the Centre cannot preclude reservation from being extended to women in civic bodies by saying it doesn't apply to tribal areas.
Four persons including a Manipur police commando and a teenager were killed in Kangvai area of Bishnupur district in clashes between the two warring communities in the intervening night of Thursday and Friday, officials said.
Manipur Police have so far arrested five persons in connection with the May 4 parading of two tribal women in Kangpokpi district of the state, officials said on Saturday.
The incident occurred at Kwakeithel Mayai Koibi under Lamphel police station a day after classes 1 to 8 began in the state after two months because of the violence.
"The violent mob vandalised all the houses and burnt them to the ground after looting all the moveable properties," the FIR lodged at Saikul police station claimed.
Former West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar's subsequent elevation set a new benchmark for the actions of those who occupy Raj Bhavans, observes Aditi Phadnis.
Rumour-mongering has largely affected the process to calm down the situation and bring peace in troubled Manipur.
Two abandoned houses were set on fire by unidentified people in Manipur's Imphal West district in the early hours of Wednesday, an official said.
Addressing a press conference, minister Neiba Kronu said members of the government's Core Committee on the Naga political issue will have a meeting with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also the convenor of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), in Kohima on December 9 to decide on the approach in the aftermath of the civilian killings.
'It is difficult to replace him because if he is replaced, it will lead to a sense of defeat among the Meiteis, rightly or wrongly, and more chaos.'
The video, which drew widespread condemnation, shows the men constantly molesting the two helpless women, who cry and plead with their captors to spare them the horror.
Around 800 people, including children and the elderly, are living in pitiable conditions in relief shelters near Thangjing temple and Moirang Lamkhai which are being run by three organisations.
The Supreme Court on Monday extended till September 15 its order asking the Manipur police not to take any coercive steps against four members of the Editors Guild of India (EGI) in connection with two FIRs lodged against them for alleged offences, including promoting enmity between two communities.
Sources from both parties said their legislators would hold a joint meeting with consensus leader Neiphiu Rio, the outgoing chief minister, before staking the claim to form the government.
'Today, the biggest challenge is the large number of weapons that are out within both communities. Related to this, is the minds of both communities. Today, there's so much (hatred) against each other. '
Chowdhury said that the visiting MPs will present their observations on Manipur in Parliament.
The mother of one of the girls who was stripped naked and paraded by a mob in Manipur wants capital punishment for the culprits and to see the remains of her son and husband who too died on that day.
At least eight persons have been killed and 18 injured, including two security personnel, in Manipur's Bishnupur and Churachandpur districts following continuous gunbattle between Kukis and Meiteis over the last 72 hours, officials said on Thursday.
The ITLF alleged that thousands of weapons looted from state armouries in capital Imphal are being used in the "ethnic cleansing campaign".
'We failed as a country because those who should have been there to say goodbye did not show up.'
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United on Wednesday described as "high indiscipline" and "arbitrary" the support extended by its Nagaland unit to the newly formed government in that state where the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance returned to power.
A women's rally outside the Imphal residence of Union minister R K Ranjan Singh turned ugly when the protestors threw stones at it demanding that he speak in Parliament about the situation in the ethnic strife-affected state.
A team of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials, led by the agency's Special Director Ajay Bhatnagar, will reach Imphal in a special flight on Wednesday to investigate the 'kidnapping and killing' of two students who went missing in the northeastern state on July 6, sources said.
A vacation bench of justices Aniruddha Bose and Rajesh Bindal said the high court is already seized of a similar issue.
The success of south films like KGF: Chapter 2, RRR and Pushpa: The Rise has resulted in audiences getting more and more receptive towards watching stars from this industry in Hindi films.
An injured eight-year-old boy was killed along with his mother and another relative when an ambulance with the three on board was waylaid by a mob and set ablaze in Manipur's West Imphal district, officials said.
Thousands of agitators took part in the rally, during which violence between tribals and non-tribals was reported in Torbung area, a senior police officer said.
Ahead of the visit, Congress' deputy leader in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi called for an inquiry under a retired Supreme Court judge into the violence in Manipur.
They said keeping in mind the situation arising out of ethnic clashes that broke out in the state on May 4, a team of women officials and personnel from Manipur police was formed to probe the case.
Rio also appointed 24 MLAs as 'advisors' to various departments in his opposition less government.
Unconfirmed reports said that the CM had typed out a resignation letter but was persuaded by his supporters to tear it up.
Security forces which tried to quell the mob were forced to use force and fired tear gas shells at the mob at New Checkon in Imphal, they added.
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