No process can offer a panacea for ethnic conflict, but there are times at which a legal process could work to defuse violence, asserts Supreme Court lawyer Devvrat.
The injured have been air evacuated to Mantripukhri and search operations are in progress, the Army's SpearCorps headquartered in Dimapur said on Twitter.
The funeral of 10 Kuki-Zo youths, who were killed in an alleged gunfight with CRPF, has been delayed pending the release of post-mortem reports. The Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF), representing the Kuki-Zo community, is exploring the possibility of conducting a second autopsy in Churachandpur. The youths' bodies were airlifted to Churachandpur from Assam's Silchar town on Saturday. The incident follows a series of clashes between security forces and militants in the region. The post-mortem examination of the 10 Kuki-Zo youths, who ITLF claimed were village volunteers as against the Manipur government's assertion that they were militants, was conducted at Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH) in Assam. The bodies have been kept in the local hospital morgue for the time being.
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.
The spark for the raging violence was lit by demonstrations by tribal groups against a move to grant the majority Meiteis the Scheduled Tribe status, which the residents of the hills had been enjoying for decades since Independence.
The report urged the top court that the matter may be taken up by the petitioners and other parties with utmost sensitivity as any misinformation or rumour or even suspicion may aggravate the situation in Manipur, where things are slowly returning to normal with the concerted efforts of the central and the state governments.
State information and public relations minister Dr RK Ranjan said combing operations have been launched in all districts, particularly in vulnerable areas.
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.
'NSCN-IM leader Muivah warns that the NSCN-IM has come very close to an honourable solution to the peace process with the Government of India, but if it does not materialise, then the Nagas will go away so far that it would be difficult to bring them back to the negotiating table easily,' note Sandeep Pandey and Meera Sanghamitra.
Armed vigilante groups have been taking the law into their own hands in parts of Manipur, in the wake of ethnic rioting earlier, thus complicating the peace process. At times, militant groups have joined in the fray, creating an even more volatile cocktail of ethnic tension.
The Arambai Tenggol has been a focal point of controversy, with Kuki representatives blaming the organisation for exacerbating violence.
Echoing Rahul, Manipur CM Ibobi Singh too demanded that the contents of the accord be made public and uploaded on the Internet.
However, a central BJP leader downplayed the development and ruled out any changes in the state government, noting that tussle between different interest groups has been a feature of Manipur politics.
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.
An Indian Army soldier was injured after armed miscreants resorted to unprovoked firing from Kanto Sabal towards Chingmang village on the intervening night of June 18-19.
The Army, Assam Rifles, CAPFs and local police have been deployed in vulnerable places.
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.
Over seven months of violence severely hit businesses, schools, colleges and other institutions, besides disrupting transportation and communication networks. It also affected the agrarian sector, considered the mainstay of the state economy.
'If Manipur is divided on ethnic lines, similar demands will come in other states also.'
The four, including the wife of the main accused, were taken 'outside the state' by a special flight, Singh said.
Altogether 45 students were injured in Manipur's Imphal Valley on Tuesday as the police fired tear gas shells and baton-charged a mob protesting against the killing of two youths who were allegedly kidnapped in July, officials said.
Asking Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the state government, to file an updated status report, the bench said, "It should have details like rehabilitation camps, law and order and recovery of arms."
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.
The Manipur Police personnel allegedly drove the two women from the Kuki-Zomi community, who had sought refuge in their official Gypsy, to a mob of around 1,000 Meiti rioters in Kangpokpi district, the Central Bureau of Investigation chargesheet has said.
Life in the north-eastern state of Manipur continued to limp back to normal as curfew was relaxed in 11 districts, including Imphal West, Bishnupur, Churachandpur and Jiribam, for six hours from 5 am, as no fresh incident of violence was reported, officials said on Wednesday.
"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.
The fulcrum of victory or defeat of parties attempting to form a government is held by smaller players and those willing to defect.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Sunday said the people of his state, including himself, want the withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act but only after mutual understanding with the Centre as national security is their top priority.
'The adversary will always exploit India's anti-national elements.'
The Manipur government's plan to carve out seven new districts in the hill areas has ignited old resentments between Naga and non-Naga ethnic groups, leading to clashes and a month-long economic blockade.
A lesson we have not learnt from China is the urgent need to knit the vast country together to keep it from falling apart at the seams. While there is considerable dent in poverty, sadly, the North East remains as distant today as it always was, points out Shreekant Sambrani.
'Had it not been for the complicity of the state and Biren Singh's leadership, these riots would not have spread this far and for so long.'
Besides law and order, the long standing demand for junking Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, economic woes of the land-locked state which has hardly any industries, are expected to figure high on the agenda of the unfolding electoral battle between the two main parties with smaller local parties such as National People's Party and the Naga People's Front chipping in with their own demands.
The SC said at most it can give directions to the authorities to make the situation better and for that it needs assistance of different groups and positive suggestions.
Bimola Thounaojam, the mother of an 18-year-old youth, has been trying frantically trying to work out how to get her son admitted to a college outside Manipur without having to go through the usual net-based admission procedure.
'The unfolding events indicate a dangerous internal security situation in Manipur and the region. It can have external ramifications also.'
All the four accused, who were allegedly part of a mob that disrobed and paraded two women in Manipur on May 4, were remanded to 11-day police custody on Friday, the police said.
The talks were convened in Delhi in a bid to iron out differences, particularly on the NSCN-IM's demands for a separate flag and Constitution for the Nagas, which have already been rejected by the Centre.
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.
