Fresh gunfights, arson in Manipur amid shutdown

Gunfights, arson, and a shutdown rocked Manipur on Wednesday as it continued to grapple with a fresh wave of unrest.

Gunfights, arson, and a shutdown rocked Manipur on Wednesday as it continued to grapple with a fresh wave of unrest, which has prompted the Union government to increase the deployment of central forces in the strife-torn state.

The fresh wave of violence, which began after an attack on a tribal village in Jiribam on Thursday, has renewed security concerns in a region that has been in the grip of violence for close to 18 months. (AFP)

In the Meitei-dominated Bishnupur district, suspected militants opened fire on a group of farmers in the Ningthoukhong Kha Khunou Maning village, leading to a gunfight with the personnel of the 9th Indian Reserved Battalion (IRB).

“I was threshing paddy, and some of my colleagues were harvesting. I suddenly heard gunshots, and when I looked up, other farmers were running. However, some remained stuck in the field. They were later rescued after the IRB personnel retaliated,” Nongmaithem Romeo, a farmer who was working in the field, said.

Police officers familiar with the matter said the gunfight lasted for 15 minutes, after which the personnel evacuated around 20 farmers. “We never expected such an incident here in the paddy field. The government needs to protect us,” Romeo said.

Wednesday’s gunfight broke out days after a 34-year-old woman was killed in the district after suspected Kuki militants fired at a group of farmers, who were working in a paddy field close to the foothills of adjoining Churachandpur district.

The fresh wave of violence, which began after an attack on a tribal village in Jiribam on Thursday, has renewed security concerns in a region that has been in the grip of violence for close to 18 months. On Monday, security forces gunned down 10 militants in Jiribam after a group of armed men attacked a CRPF post. A day after the gunfight, bodies of two civilians were recovered from a Jiribam village. Six members of a Meitei family from the same village—three women and three children—were reported missing, with officials saying that they were likely abducted by militants.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Manipur police confirmed that a CRPF vehicle was partially damaged after firing by militants in Jiribam on Monday. “Another CRPF BP vehicle also sustained damage from gunfire by armed militants firing from hill side at Kangchup,” it added.

Normal life came to a halt in the Imphal Valley on Wednesday due to a total shutdown called by 13 civil rights organisations to protest the suspected abduction. Business establishments and educational institutions remained shut, private and interdistrict public transportation stayed off the roads, and government offices recorded negligible attendance in the districts of Imphal East, Imphal West, Thoubal, Kakching, and Bishnupur.

“I have to pay a monthly tender, which I pay from the fare I get from passengers,” said an auto driver in Imphal on the condition of anonymity. “However, now (after closing of roads and public transport, I am forced to pay a late fee.”

Shanta Nahakpam, spokesperson for the 13 civil bodies, condemned the authorities for their failure to stop the attacks allegedly carried out by Kuki militants. “If the government had taken necessary measures on restoring peace in Manipur, violence might not have happened and sporadic attack of Kuki militants could be prevented,” Nahakpam said.

The 13 outfits also submitted a six-point memorandum to governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya, seeking immediate rescue of the six abducted people; safeguarding of national highways; designation of a no-entry zone near paddy fields close to the foothills to prevent further attacks on farmers; improved coordination among all security forces; and confinement of all armed Kuki militants part of the Suspension of Operations (SoO) pact within their designated camps.

In the neighbouring Assam, a group of people from Jiribam protested at the Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH) demanding the handing over of the bodies of the militants killed in Monday’s gunfight to their families.

“Only six postmortems were conducted till Tuesday midnight. We want the process to be completed soon and the bodies to be handed over to the family members,” one of the protesters said on condition of anonymity.

Another protester said that the men were protecting their village when they were gunned down.

“They were protecting our village. The situation was tense after the brutal killing of a woman there. But CRPF killed them, and now we are not even allowed to take bodies,” another protester said.

The same day, a convoy of eight trucks carrying essential items and heading to Noney district was attacked, and two of the vehicles were set on fire on NH-37 by armed militants in the state’s Tamenglong district.

The Rongmei Naga Students’ Organisation Manipur (RNSOM) issued a statement, signed by its general secretary Jeanthui Panmei, claiming that the trucks were fired upon with automatic rifles before being set on fire.

“RNSOM strongly condemns the recent attack on two trucks opening hundred rounds of by automatic rifles... by armed Kukis militants, who opened opened fire and set teh vehicles ablaze around 5.30-6 am this morning,” the statement said.

(With inputs from Biswa Kalyan Purkayastha in Silchar)