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Curfew eased in five Manipur valley districts
According to an official order, the curfew will be relaxed from 5am to 6pm for Imphal East, Imphal West and Kakching districts, and from 5am to 8pm for Thoubal district
The Manipur government on Thursday relaxed the curfew in five Valley districts to allow local residents to purchase essential items, two days after it clamped prohibitory orders in these areas.
The decision came a day after more than 40 people were injured in Bishnupur district, when police fired a few rounds of teargas shells to disperse local groups which had gathered to remove army barricades.
The relaxation in curfew, the government stressed, will not be meant for gatherings, sit-in demonstrations or rallies without prior permission.
According to an official order, the curfew will be relaxed from 5am to 6pm for Imphal East, Imphal West and Kakching districts, and from 5am to 8pm for Thoubal district. For Bishnupur, restrictions will be relaxed from 5am to 11am.
“This relaxation shall not include any gathering or sit in protest or rally, etc. without obtaining approval from competent authority,” the order, seen by HT, said.
Since May 3, the northeastern state has been gripped by ethnic clashes – primarily between the tribal Kukis, which mostly reside in the hill districts, and majority Meiteis, the dominant community in Imphal Valley – in which at least 163 people have died and over 50,000 displaced.
On Tuesday, the state government hurriedly clamped full curfew in the five Valley districts amid a call by the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), a Meitei civil society organisation, to remove security barricades at Phougakchao Ikhai village in Bishnupur district.
The barricades serve as a boundary of a buffer zone, manned by security forces, to ensure that people from the two warring communities do not cross over and engage in violence.
COCOMI says it seeks the removal of barricades from Meitei-inhabited areas in Phougakchao Ikhai village up to Torbung, another Meitei-inhabited village, along the border of Bishnupur and Churachandpur districts to facilitate the resettlement of community members who have been displaced in the violence.
On Wednesday, local groups defied prohibitory restrictions and tried to remove army barricades, sparking clashes that left over 40 people injured.
According to officials aware of the details, the groups had gathered at Phougakchao Ikhai bazaar, 52 km south of Imphal, to march towards Phougakchao Ikhai and remove the barricades around 3pm. As the crowd tried to breach the barricades at Kwakta, police fired a few rounds of teargas shells in a bid to disperse the crowd. A total of at least 10,000 people had gathered at Phougakchao Ikhai bazaar and Kwakta, and more than 40 people, including a video journalist, were injured in the firing, the officials said.
Meanwhile, police dismantled at least 17 bunkers, recovered six guns and three country made mortars from Imphal West, Imphal East, Kangpokpi and Thoubal districts, officials said.
Police said no violence or protest was reported on Thursday. “There was no gathering, and the situation was peaceful. But security forces are still on alert at different places along the border. Most of the people who were injured in Wednesday’s incident were discharged from the Bishnupur district hospital and the Kwakta primary healthcare centre,” a police official said, seeking anonymity.
