Appealing with "folded hands" for an end to the three-month-long cycle of violence in Manipur, Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday urged the warring Kuki and Meitei communities to hold talks, even as the Lok Sabha adopted a resolution calling for the restoration of peace in the northeastern state.
The security review was held after the February 20 ultimatum given by the governor to everyone holding illegal and looted arms to surrender.
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.
More than 1,000 arms, including handguns, machine guns, grenades, mortars, and INSAS and AK-56 rifles, were surrendered by people in Manipur during a two-week amnesty period for voluntarily giving up looted and illegally held weapons. The surrender of arms comes as Manipur grapples with ethnic violence that has left hundreds dead and thousands displaced.
The ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki communities in Manipur has claimed 258 lives since May last year, the state government's Security Advisor Kuldiep Singh said on Friday.
The Manipur high court has directed the state government to operationalise mobile towers, on a trial basis, in all those district headquarters which have not been affected by ethnic strife.
The AFSPA, often criticised as a draconian law, gives armed forces operating in disturbed areas sweeping powers to search, arrest and open fire if they deem it necessary.
Manipur police have arrested 16 members of various banned outfits in the last 48 hours, including seven militants of the Kangleipak Communist Party (People's War Group) who were apprehended during a midnight operation in Thoubal district. The arrests come amidst ongoing security operations in the state following ethnic violence that erupted in May 2023.
Six people -- three women and three children -- belonging to the Meitei community had gone missing from a relief camp in Jiribam after a gunfight between security forces and suspected Kuki-Zo militants that resulted in the deaths of 10 insurgents on November 11.
'Our gagged silence today portrays the silencing of justice, but our protest signify our love for India and justice.'
Forty-two more firearms and cartridges have been surrendered by the public in five districts of ethnic strife-torn Manipur, police said. The surrender comes after Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla urged warring groups to voluntarily surrender weapons robbed from security forces and other illegally held firearms within seven days. The deadline was later extended till March 6. The surrender of firearms follows months of ethnic violence between Meiteis and Kuki-Zo groups that has resulted in the deaths of over 250 people and left thousands homeless.
The Manipur police dismissed the claims of Lt Gen PC Nair, a retired DG of Assam Rifles, in a recent media interview that no drones or rockets have been used in the attacks.
An abandoned house in Lalpani village was torched by armed men on Friday night, they said.
'The situation is so bad that it is not possible for me to explain in words how bad the conditions are for the common man of Manipur.'
'In a complex situation a PM coming was not necessary'
A mob led by Kuki-Zo women clashed with security forces in Manipur's Kangpokpi district on Tuesday, triggering fresh tensions in the ethnic strife-hit state.
Autopsy reports of the victims of the Jiribam killings in Manipur have revealed brutal injuries, including multiple bullet wounds, severe trauma, and missing body parts. The reports, released on Wednesday, detail the horrific injuries suffered by the victims, including a 10-month-old infant, who had both eyeballs missing and a bullet injury to the knee. The killings, which took place in November, are part of the ongoing ethnic violence between Meiteis and Kuki-Zo groups in Manipur.
'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.'
Curfew was imposed in Manipur's Churachandpur on Monday as a precautionary measure following clashes between Hmar and Zomi communities. The decision came after a Hmar tribal leader was assaulted, leading to demands for the perpetrators to be identified. Prohibitory orders were also imposed in the district, banning unauthorized processions and assemblies, and restricting the carrying of weapons. The violence stemmed from an altercation involving the Hmar leader, who was accused of nearly hitting a two-wheeler rider. The incident sparked protests and clashes, with central security forces intervening to disperse mobs. The Hmar Village Volunteers have imposed a total shutdown in Pherzawl and Jiribam districts in response to the violence.
'There's no transparency in work (of the Wakf Board), in property transactions (of the Waqf).'
'We are not secessionists, we want to coexist with our countrymen but not on the terms that will strip us off our dignity and a right to peaceful existence.'
'These are just to deflect from the leaked audio tapes of the chief minister which prove his culpability in the ethnic violence against the Kukis that has gripped the state for more than 17 months.'
Just a day after an agreement was signed between Hmar and Meitei representatives to restore peace in ethnic violence-hit Jiribam district of Manipur, the apex body of the Hmar community said that the pact stood 'null and void'.
The mother of Janata Dal-United MLA Kh Joykishan Singh in Manipur has lodged a complaint, alleging that Rs 18 lakh in cash and jewellery items worth Rs 1.5 crore were looted by a mob that vandalised the legislator's residence on November 16, police said on Thursday.
'The kind of situation we are seeing...we don't believe that this can happen in a settled democracy like India'
The officials said that in the present environment where two communities are attacking each other, they may not find even a lawyer to defend them as all courts were within Imphal valley.
One person was shot dead in his sleep while four others were killed in subsequent exchange of fire between armed men of two warring communities, a police officer said.
A fresh cycle of violence erupted in Manipur last Monday after 11 suspected militants, who allegedly attacked a police station and adjoining CRPF camp with sophisticated weapons in Manipur's Jiribam district, were killed in an exchange of fire.
'The visit of the honourable PM with the workable strategy towards conflict resolution will help greatly.' 'But visiting the state without concrete proposals may not bring the desired outcome at this stage.'
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has reviewed the security situation in Manipur for the second consecutive day, directing officials to focus on restoring peace and order in the state. The situation has been volatile following protests and violence after the recovery of bodies of women and children. Shah also ordered the deployment of 5,000 paramilitary troops to assist the state government in handling the situation.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh has asked the army to take steps to trace a 56-year-old man who has been missing since November 25 from Kangpokpi district. Laishram Kamalbabu Singh went missing from the 57th Mountain Division campus of the army, and an FIR has been lodged with the Sekmai Police Station over his disappearance. The chief minister asked the authorities at the Leimakhong army camp to take responsibility for finding out the man. Singh also alleged a lack of transparency and sincerity among a section of security personnel in Manipur.
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.
A commando contingent of the Manipur police has been airlifted to Jiribam on Saturday morning from Imphal to assist in the security operations against the militants, police said.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh resigned on Sunday, following months of ethnic violence in the state. BJP leaders have begun closed-door meetings to decide the next course of action. The opposition welcomed Singh's resignation, while the BJP hopes the move will help restore peace in the region.
The Commission of Inquiry was supposed to submit its report to the central government "as soon as possible but not later than six months from the date of its first sitting".
The Indian government has sent an additional 50 CAPF companies, comprising over 5,000 personnel, to Manipur to address the challenging security and law and order situation in the northeastern state. This comes after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) deployed 20 additional CAPF companies to the state following violence in Jiribam district. The deployment brings the total number of CAPF companies in Manipur to 218. Union Home Minister Amit Shah will also meet to review the security situation in Manipur and strategize to handle the volatile situation in the state.
The autopsy report of the 31-year-old tribal woman, who was killed in Manipur's violence-hit Jiribam district on November 7, revealed that she was subjected to third-degree torture and suffered 99 per cent burns.
Two Central Reserve Police Force personnel also sustained injuries during the heavy exchange of fire that happened at Jakurador Karong in the Borobekra sub-division, they said.
'There is a list with the Ministry of Home Affairs that has the details and names of the terrorist organisations that attack the Indian Army.'
'Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have called his MLAs and ministers and said 'this should not happen in India. Manipur is not a part of any banana republic, I will not allow this to happen, talk it out, what is the problem'
