Army chief in Manipur meets governor, reviews security arrangement
Army chief General Pande, who landed at Imphal on Saturday afternoon met governor Anusuiya Uikey at the Raj Bhawan to discuss and deliberate over the current situation in the northeastern state
Chief of army staff (COAS) General Manoj Pande arrived in Imphal on Saturday to take stock of the security scenario. Union minister of state (home) Nityanand Rai has been stationed there since Thursday.
Army chief General Pande, who landed at Imphal on Saturday afternoon met governor Anusuiya Uikey at the Raj Bhawan to discuss and deliberate over the current situation in the northeastern state. He is also slated to meet chief minster N Biren Singh and state security advisor Kuldiep Singh.
“The COAS will visit various locations where he will interact with the local formation commanders and obtain a firsthand account of the situation obtaining on ground. He will also interact with the troops,” said a PIB release.
Amid the unrest, a total of 135 columns of army personnel have been deployed in the northeastern state since the violence began on May 3. A column consists of about 100 personnel.
Ethnic clashes, which began on May 3 between Kuki and Meitei communities were triggered after the former opposed granting of scheduled tribe (ST) status to the former Manipur’s dominant community comprising 53% of the population. The violent clashes have so far left 74 dead, nearly 300 injured and displaced more than 30,000.
“The meeting discussed the prevailing situation and security measures which are put in place to contain/prevent any violent and major untoward incidents in the state,” said a release issued by the governor’s secretariat.
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The Manipur government has extended a ban on internet services across the northeastern border state for five days to curb rumours-mongering spreading through images, hate speech, and hate video messages in the state, an official order said.
The commissioner (Home) H Gyan Prakash in an order issued on Friday said, “This order is issued to prevent any disturbance of peace and public order in the state of Manipur and shall be in force for the next five days with immediate effect from the time this suspension order becomes operational till 3pm of May 31, 2023.”
It said the step was taken to prevent disturbances to the entire peaceful co-existence of the communities and maintenance of public order.
On Saturday, curfew was relaxed for nine hours till 2pm both in Imphal West and Imphal East districts.
Amidst the curfew, hundreds of youths staged a ‘peaceful march rally’ under the aegis of the District Level Committee for Rejuvenating Co-existence (DLCFRC) at Kakching town under Kakching district where curfew was relaxed for just four hours till 9am on Saturday.
Regarding the peaceful march, P Somorendro of DLCFRC, said, “We want to rejuvenate co-existence. We must not be apart from each of the communities as we have been in Manipur for the last so many years.”
“We want to save Manipur. There must be no disintegration of Manipur at all cost,” he added.
On Saturday, former chairperson of the National School of Drama and eminent Manipuri theatre personality Ratan Thiyam appealed to the religious leaders of the state to take a proactive role in restoring peace and stability in the state.
Speaking to the state’s information and publicity department officials, he said, “Considering the grave situation that Manipur is currently facing, all religious leaders from temples, Masjids, Churches, etc should try to find out a means to restore peace. I urge them to help the government in bringing both the parties of the conflict to the negotiating table.”
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Expressing disappointment over the weakness of the intelligence network of the state, Thiyam, who won the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1987, said, “Had the intelligence been alerted about the violence in time, the present situation could have been avoided”.
Meanwhile, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) delegation from Manipur on Saturday submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to take steps to bring back normalcy to the state “in the shortest possible time”.
“Despite the heavy presence of security forces...violence and uncertainty prevails at an all-time high which has eventually led to an increase of tensions among various communities residing in the state,” said the memorandum submitted by the delegation led by Manipur BJP president A Sharda Devi.
The memorandum pledged to uphold the territorial integrity of Manipur “at all costs” and oppose attempts to disrupt integrity and unity. It also opposed the formation of a separate administrative division in the state.
Earlier this month, 10 MLAs from the state belonging to the Chin-Kuki-Zomi-Hmar communities (including seven legislators from the BJP) submitted a memorandum to Union home minister Amit Shah seeking separate administration in areas of Manipur where people from these communities reside. The demand has been reiterated by tribal groups like Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF).