President's rule was imposed in Manipur on Thursday, with the state assembly put under suspended animation following the resignation of Chief Minister N Biren Singh. The decision came after months of ethnic violence that claimed over 250 lives. Singh's resignation was attributed to his handling of the violence and allegations of instigating conflict. The imposition of President's rule was met with a sense of hope by the Kuki-Zo community, who expressed distrust of the Meitei leadership.
Clashes erupted between agitators and police in Greater Imphal area on Sunday as supporters of introduction of Inner Line Permit in Manipur continued their defiance of the curfew, which stepped into the fifth day, and took to the streets in large numbers.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has cancelled his election rallies in Maharashtra and is returning to Delhi due to the volatile situation in Manipur. The home minister is likely to hold a meeting to review the situation in the northeastern state, where irate mobs have set fire to the residences of several BJP and Congress legislators. The incidents follow a series of killings and abductions by militants in the state.
It was a muted Independence Day celebrations because of the dawn-to-dusk general strike called by multiple militant outfits and the loss of lives and property of hundreds of people over the last three months in the ethnic strife.
Normal flight services at Manipur's Imphal International Airport were affected on Sunday afternoon over sighting of an unidentified flying object (UFO), officials said.
An attempt was also made to torch another property of the consumer and food affairs minister and his residence at Khurai in the same district on Friday night but timely intervention prevented it.
It is the first warship to have been named after a city from the Northeastern region, the approval for which was accorded by the President in April 2019.
A prominent 72-year-old social activist on fast since July 6 demanding implementation of Inner Line Permit System in Manipur was force fed at a state-run hospital after his condition deteriorated.
They staged sit-in demonstrations in various localities blocking roads, demanding the removal of Assam Rifles from violence-hit areas and accusing the paramilitary force of "brutality during recent agitations".
The curfew was imposed this noon and covers Porompat and Sawombung subdivisions of Imphal East district, said an order issued by the district magistrate. It will continue till further directions.
The Arambai Tenggol has been a focal point of controversy, with Kuki representatives blaming the organisation for exacerbating violence.
Representatives of the Committee on Mass Protest against Assam Rifles organised sit-ins to protest against the paramilitary force's legal notice to Republican Party of India-Athawale national secretary Maheshwar Thounaojam for harming the "reputation of the organisation".
The solution to Manipur's problems lies in the government giving concessions to Meitis in jobs and education and to accept autonomy for the tribal dominated areas inhibited by the Kukis, suggests Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
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.
Defying the indefinite curfew clamped in Greater Imphal area agitators on Thursday.
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.
The demand for repoll included three polling stations under Chief Minister N Biren Singh's assembly constituency of Heingang.
On Friday, April 19, 2024, at least four electronic voting machines were damaged at different polling booths in conflict-hit Manipur during the first phase of elections.
Gunmen, who are yet to be identified, arrived in camouflage dresses in the Lilong Chingjao area, and opened fire targeting locals, they said.
In fresh violence in Manipur, two houses were torched by a mob in Imphal East district after two armed miscreants forced people to shut their shops on Monday afternoon, police officials said.
Officials added that one INSAS light machine gun was recovered by the forces during initial search.
The state government, however, relaxed the curfew in Imphal East and West districts for seven hours from 5 am to facilitate common people to purchase essential items, officials said.
The security agencies have been warning that militants belonging to United National Liberation Front, People's Liberation Army and other banned groups had become part of the mobs and carrying out sneak attacks on security forces as well as giving directions to the agitators.
Meira Paibis, a collective of Meitei women, on Friday staged sit-in demonstrations across five districts of Imphal Valley in protest against the alleged gang rape of a 37-year-old woman in Churachandpur on May 3, when the ongoing ethnic violence started.
'No matter how much you get paid or how successful you get, nothing can match the fauj.'
A village volunteer was killed in a gunfight between two warring communities in Manipur's Kangpokpi district, officials said on Thursday.
Close to 2,000 passengers are stranded at the premises of the airport, the terminal building of which can handle only 750 passengers -- 250 for arrival and 500 for departure -- at a time.
One person was killed and another injured in heavy firing between two groups at Narainsena in Bishnupur district on Tuesday morning, police said.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Thursday said the state government is working towards peace talks and has held several meetings in Assam's Silchar.
The latest clashes began after the army and para-military forces commenced combing operations to de-arm communities in order to bring peace, officials said.
Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw Field Marshal K M Cariappa Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh The three highest-ranking military heroes of the Indian Armed Forces. They were the rarest of the rare. The bravest of the brave.
A tagline below this adds "feel free to do so", an indication that questions will not be asked how the weapons were in their possession of those who drop by in the first place.
Security forces columns, which were immediately deployed in these "vacant" villages, responded cautiously to avoid any collateral damage.
At least 25 miscreants with arms, ammunition and grenades have been rounded up by Indian Army and paramilitary forces across ethnic-strife riven Manipur, officials said on Monday.
Fifteen houses were set on fire in Manipur's Imphal West district where fresh violence broke out, officials said on Sunday.
Women are on a sit-in at Chikim village, around 3 km from Tengnoupal district's Moreh, a Kuki majority town.
The Manipur police said all personnel of the force from top to bottom are united and any attack on anyone and use of social media to target any officer or unit will be taken seriously and stringent action will be taken.
In a fresh round of violence in ethnic strife-torn Manipur, mutilated bodies of three youths were found following heavy gunfire at Kuki Thowai village in Ukhrul district on Friday, officials said.
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 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.
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