Centre Deploys Additional Security Forces In Volatile Manipur Amid Demand To Socially Boycott Biren Government

The Centre dispatched 800 additional central security personnel to Manipur late Saturday, hours after a new wave of attacks and retaliation killed six people and injured 16, posing a new challenge to N Biren Singh-led BJP government leading to “indefinite social boycott” by the same people who publicly stopped the CM from resigning on June 30.

The inability of CM Biren to stop conflict and save people’s lives landed him in hot water with the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), an Imphal valley-based forum. This came after two MLAs from the Kuki People’s Alliance, an NDA partner, withdrew their support for the government. COCOMI blamed the recurrence of violence on the administration’s apparent failure to respond to civil society’s call to rein in “Chin Kuki narco terrorists.” The organization demanded a special assembly session within five days at a demonstration on July 29.

COCOMI head Jitendra Ningomba questioned the circumstances behind Saturday’s pre-dawn attack at Kwakta in Bishnupur district’s Moirang, which killed three people – a father-son duo and their neighbour. He demanded that the government explain how assailants were able to enter a community secured by Assam Rifles soldiers.

Many of the automatic rifles and mortar shells used by the perpetrators of Saturday’s carnage are thought to have come from the armoury of the 2nd India Reserve Battalion headquarters in Bishnupur district, which was plundered by a mob on Thursday. Mobs and security forces clashed till late Saturday, with arsonists torching at least 15 houses in Langol village and Imphal’s New Checkon neighbourhood.

According to the Army, insurgents attacked one of its troops in Mongcham during one of several combing operations conducted in the aftermath of the Kwakta massacre. In retaliatory fire, an armed member of the Kuki Independent Army (KIA), one of the smaller organizations not in ceasefire with the government, was wounded and detained. An SLR, ammunition, and other equipment were seized, as per the army.

The KIA is suspected of being involved in the stealing of weaponry and ammunition in Churachandpur in April, just before the ethnic violence began.

According to Manipur Police, security forces have been conducting regular raids in the hills and valleys to recover looted weaponry and ammunition. Lately, 1,057 weapons and 14,201 rounds of ammunition had been recovered in the valley.

Security personnel were able to recover 15 guns from the looted 2nd IRB armoury at Bishnupur.

Four guns stolen from police team at Toupokpi outpost in Lilong Chajing, Imphal West district, on Saturday were recovered after a chase, according to police. One suspect was apprehended, and the snatchers’ car was seized.

The CRPF, SSB, ITBP, and BSF reinforcements dispatched by the Centre add to the 9,000 personnel, or 124 companies of central armed police forces, already stationed in the volatile state since the ethnic unrest erupted on May 3. Approximately 10,000 soldiers have also been on the ground for more than two months.

Also Read: PM Modi Lauched The Project To Renovate 508 Railway Stations Under Amrit Bharat Station Scheme