More forces rushed to tense Manipur; tribal body likely to meet Amit Shah today

The development came at the end of a tumultuous week for the state where ethnic violence since May 3 has left over 160 people dead and thousands displaced.

Ten additional companies of central troops have reached Manipur amid a fresh spell of violence in the strife-torn state, while members of an umbrella tribal body said that they were scheduled to meet Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Monday.

Security personnel stand guard at Kwakta in Bishnupur district on August 3. (PTI)

The development came at the end of a tumultuous week for the state where ethnic violence since May 3 has left over 160 people dead and thousands displaced. On Saturday, three men of the Meitei community were shot dead inside their homes and their bodies were mutilated in Manipur’s Kwakta area. Hours later, two men from the tribal Kuki community were killed in Churachandpur district, although it was not immediately clear if the two incidents were connected.

Hours after the fresh spurt of violence, an internal order issued by a CRPF officer had confirmed that ten companies — five of Central Reserve Police Force, three of Border Security Force, and one each of Sashastra Seema Bal and Indo-Tibetan Border Police — were expected to reach later that night. The order, dated August 5, was addressed to the state police headquarters.

A security force official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, welcomed the development. “There was a need for more forces. They will be posted depending on the places which are reporting violence or that are tense. If we are to completely stop miscreants from crossing, more personnel are needed to man the buffer zones. The decision will be taken after assessment by the inter-agency unified command,” he said.

The northeastern state, which has been roiled by ethnic clashes for the last three months now has at least 125 companies of different paramilitary forces and nearly 164 columns of the Indian Army and Assam Rifles. One company has around 120-135 personnel. There are around 55-70 personnel in one army column.

The spurt in violence over the last week traces back to an announcement by the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) -- an umbrella group representing tribal groups -- for a mass burial of 35 victims of the ethnic violence on August 3, before it was hurriedly called off following hectic parleys by authorities and a court order. Meiteis opposed the burial plan, and several groups began converging at the proposed burial site, triggering widespread clashes that continued on Sunday.

Amid fresh clashes between groups of armed miscreants, security forces have launched operations to arrest the armed gunmen. The operations continued on Sunday. One Kuki Independent Army (KIA) militant was also arrested on Saturday evening after an encounter with the army, police said.

A member of the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), an umbrella body of several Imphal-based civil society organisations, said: “Our people, especially women members, are alert and on guard in our part of the village to ensure that the forces are alert and the no one does anything that will lead to a law-and-order problem. Having a mass grave is not the right thing to do.”

Meanwhile, ITLF members said they are meeting Union minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Monday to discuss the ongoing violence in Manipur.

“We are reaching Delhi tomorrow. Four members of ITLF will be present in the meeting. His office called us for the meeting. We are on our way to Delhi,” Ginza Vualzong, spokesperson of the ITLF, said.

The MHA, however, did not respond to a request seeking a comment on the meeting.

This will be the home minister’s second meeting with them. Shah met different Kuki and Meitei groups during his visit to the state in May last week and urged them to maintain peace.

According to ITLF group members, Shah’s office had extended an invitation to ITLF on Saturday to hold talks in Delhi. The ITLF team left Churachandpur for Aizawl(Mizoram), instead of travelling to Imphal (Manipur), from where they will take a flight to Delhi. Most Kukis live in Churachandpur while Meiteis are in Imphal. Security forces have identified buffer zones near the border of such hills and valley districts and stand guard on the villages so that the two groups do not clash.

IG-rank officer to probe armoury robbery

A day before Manipur police chief Rajiv Singh is set to appear before the Supreme Court, police officers said on Sunday that an inspector general-rank officer will investigate the robbery of arms and ammunition from the 2nd battalion of India Reserve Battalion on August 3.

A large cache of arms – 235 assault rifles, 21 sub-machine guns and 16 pistols – and ammunition – 19,000 rounds of bullets and 124 hand-grenades – was looted from an armoury and a Manipur rifles personnel was killed in the incident.

Officials in the security forces said that miscreants from both -- tribal and non-tribal groups - have access to large cache of arms and ammunition that was stolen from police armouries, because of which the sporadic incidents of firing have not stopped.

During the course of violence since May 3, mobs across different districts broke into armouries of different police stations and other military units in two phases. The first breach happened during the first week of violence that started on May 3, and the second during the weekend of May 27 and 28. On August 3, a large cache of arms was looted from the armoury of the second battalion of India Reserve Battalion. Three similar attempts at different armouries were foiled by police and paramilitary forces. An annexure listing the arms and ammunition showed that what was looted from the IRB armoury included 19,000 rounds of ammunition, 1 AK series assault rifle, 25 INSAS rifles, 4 Ghatak rifles, 5 INSAS light machine guns, 5 MP-5 rifles, 124 hand grenades, 21 SMC carbines, 195 SLR rifles, and 16 9-mm pistols. Of the 3500 guns and over 500000 ammunitions stolen by mobs at the peak of the violence in May, the Manipur police have confirmed recovering just 1195 guns and 14322 rounds of ammuniton.

Manipur police officials also said that the suspension of five police personnel of the Nongpok Sekmai police station over their inaction in probing the May 4 case of the women who were stripped, gang-raped and paraded naked, was not revoked despite protests by locals. The Manipur police headquarters has suspended five police personnel including the in-charge of the Nongpok Sekmai police station.

While the horrific crime happened on May 4, Manipur police began the probe and made the first arrest more than two months later (July 20), after a horrific 30-second video of the sexual assault was shared on social media on July 19 and became viral. The video showed the men – identified in a first information report (FIR) as Meiteis – hooting and applauding as they groped the victims. Two male relatives of the women were also murdered by the mob.

Since May 3, the northeastern state has been gripped by ethnic clashes – primarily between the tribal Kukis, who reside mostly in the hill districts, and the majority Meiteis, the dominant community in Imphal valley – in which at least 160 people have died and over 50,000 have been displaced. Clashes first broke out on May 3 in Churachandpur town after Kuki groups called for protests against a proposed tweak to the state’s reservation matrix, granting scheduled tribe (ST) status to the Meitei community. Violence quickly engulfed the state where ethnic fault lines run deep, displacing tens of thousands of people who fled burning homes and neighbourhoods into jungles, often across state borders.A