Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Monday said that a police case has been filed on the basis of a complaint against the president and three members of the Editors Guild of India (EGI) for a report critiquing media coverage out of Manipur, and accused them of trying to "provoke clashes" in the state.
The top court also took note of the submissions about objectionable public utterances by some groups and individuals.
Post-mortem examination reports of 10 Kuki-Zo youths killed in an alleged gunfight with CRPF in Manipur have revealed that they sustained multiple fatal bullet injuries, with most of them fired from behind. The reports also noted that the youths were in camouflage and khaki dresses when they were brought for autopsy. The incident has raised concerns about the circumstances surrounding the deaths and the ongoing ethnic violence in the state.
For the most battle-hardened, specialised and successful counter-insurgency army in the world, this is an unfamiliar, first-time experience of dealing with the north east's deepest complexities, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Security personnel have been put on alert, and additional measures taken to prevent any incident following the viral of photos of the students, a senior officer said.
Known as 'Sentinels of the North East' and 'Friends of the Hill People', the officers, drawn from the Army, and jawans have been fighting a war of nerves since the ethnic clashes between majority Meitei and hill tribe Kukis erupted on May 3.
Observing that it does not propose to run the administration in Manipur, the apex court said necessary verifications shall be carried out before issuing the Aadhaar cards expeditiously.
The Imphal Valley in Manipur, which remained peaceful for most of Friday, witnessed sporadic clashes later in the day as more security forces were rushed in from other states by road and air to calm down a state which had witnessed bloody ethnic rioting over the last 48 hours.
Lieutenant General Shakti Gurung deserves to be complimented in telling his life story and that of his people, as subaltern communities within this vast and diverse nation of ours clamour for recognition and a plea for their voices to be heard and their aspirations to be met, notes Lieutenant General Gautam Moorthy.
The house of Manipur PWD Minister Konthoujam Govindas in Bishnupur district was vandalised on Wednesday by a group of people claiming that the government in the strife-torn state is not doing enough to protect locals from militants belonging to another community, officials said.
'Can they (the Union government) provide security to every tribal in the valley? This is impossible now.'
Business establishments remained closed on Tuesday morning and people were asked by security personnel to remain indoors through the public address system in New Chekon area of Imphal East district, where a mob torched two houses after four armed people, including a former MLA, forced people to shut their shops on Monday.
'Assam Rifles have prevented a large number of genocides and killings.'
A man who was part of the mob that paraded naked two tribal women in Kangpokpi district of Manipur and was seen dragging one of them was among four persons arrested on Thursday as the incident of May 4 drew widespread condemnation.
The Arambai Tenggol has been a focal point of controversy, with Kuki representatives blaming the organisation for exacerbating violence.
Three personnel, including two of major-rank and one naib subedar, have been conferred the Kirti Chakra, the ministry said.
A home ministry spokesperson, however, said the decision does not imply that the AFSPA has been completely withdrawn from the three insurgency-hit states but will continue to be in force in some areas of the three states.
Officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation have been handed over two FIRs -- one filed by police at the Lamphel station and the other filed by the boy's father -- Joshua Hangsing -- at the Kangpokpi police station.
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.
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.
'Unfortunately, there is no movement towards peace in Manipur.'
A leading Kuki-Zo organisation in Manipur has demanded a judicial probe into the killing of 10 youths in a gunfight with the CRPF, raising questions about the paramilitary force's neutrality. The Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF) also reiterated its demand for a separate administration for the Kuki-Zo community in the state, where ethnic violence between Kuki tribals and Meiteis has claimed over 250 lives since May last year. The ITLF claimed the post-mortem reports showed the youths were shot from the back, suggesting they were not engaged in a gunfight when they were killed. The organisation further alleged that CRPF personnel stationed nearby refused to intervene during an attack on Zairawn village, where a woman was killed. The ITLF has called for a political solution to the ongoing conflict, urging the Union Home Minister to consider a separate administration for the Kuki-Zo people.
The jawan performed his duty well and did not allow the rioters to loot the police weapons store, security officials said.
Protests erupted in Imphal, Manipur, on Monday, as a group led by the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) locked government offices in protest of the recent killing of three women and three children in Jiribam. The Manipur government also extended the suspension of internet services for two more days, till Wednesday, in seven districts of the state. The protests come amidst a fresh wave of unrest following the disappearance of six people from a displaced persons camp in Jiribam and the subsequent discovery of multiple bodies.
It asked the state government to file a fresh status report on relief, security, and rehabilitation measures to help violence-hit persons.
"Based on this consensus, the process of disengagement is almost complete. Our efforts will be to take the matter beyond disengagement; but for that, we will have to wait a little longer," he added.
'They only bring pieces. Dialogue is the only way forward.' 'We should get people who have influence to bring the community leaders to sit across the table and talk.' 'Otherwise, our adversaries across the borders will add fuel to the fire. Let's not give them a chance.'
'It has been doing yeoman service for the people of the North East.'
The government on Monday banned nine Meitei extremist groups and their associate organisations, which mostly operate in Manipur, for their anti-national activities, and launching fatal attacks on security forces.
'In a complex situation a PM coming was not necessary'
President Droupadi Murmu conferred 26 Shaurya Chakras (seven posthumous) to personnel of the armed forces, Central Armed Police Forces and state/Union Territory Police during a defence investiture ceremony.
A maximum of 92,000 personnel of CAPFs are likely to be deployed in politically volatile West Bengal, where elections will be held in seven phases, followed by 63,500 personnel in militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir, where polling will be held in five phases.
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.
Drones are a new technology added recently to the weapons used in the violence between the two large ethnic groups -- Meitei and Kuki -- in the northeastern state, which left over 200 people dead since May last year.
22 Assam Rifles women personnel are in the Republic Day marching band contingent. Dressed in crisp uniforms, playing bagpipes, drums and side drums, the year-old band has already built an admirable reputation.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh has condemned the killing of six people, including three women and three children, by suspected Kuki militants last week. He assured that his government would not rest until the culprits are brought to justice. Search operations are underway for the killers, who had taken the victims hostage in Jiribam district. Singh also expressed gratitude to the CRPF for their swift action in repelling an attack on displaced persons' camps in Jiribam, which led to the deaths of 10 insurgents. The CM has appealed for peace and condemned the violence as a crime against humanity.
He also held another meeting with a delegation of civil society organisations as part of his outreach and they expressed their commitment to peace and assured that they would work for restoring normalcy in Manipur.
Around 1.72 crore voters, including 94.60 lakh men and 77.84 lakh women, are eligible to cast their votes in this round to decide the fate of 635 candidates.
The MoU was signed on Monday between representatives of the state government and leaders of the Kangleipak communist Party-Nongdreinkhomba, Kuki National Liberation Front and Kuki Revolutionary Party.
Violent protests over the death of two youths in Manipur continued till the early hours of Thursday with a mob vandalising the deputy commissioner's office in Imphal West and torching two four-wheelers, officials said.
