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Give up weapons or face action: Shah issues warning in Manipur
Authorities have said that at least 2,000 weapons have been stolen by mobs since May 3, but only 605 have been recovered
New Delhi Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday asked people to surrender arms and ammunition before the Manipur police by the end of the day and warned of strict action against those who failed to do so, announcing combing operations to retrieve weapons in the state rocked by ethnic clashes.
Speaking on the final day of his visit to the northeastern state, Shah also held out a warning to groups that violated a tripartite suspension of operations agreement, saying any violation of the pact between militant groups, the state government and the Centre will be dealt with sternly.
“To those who have weapons, I appeal to them to surrender the weapons before the police. From tomorrow police will start combing operations to find the weapons. If police find the weapons from them during the combing operation, they will be dealt with strictly under stringent sections of the law,” he said.
Authorities have confirmed that at least 2,000 weapons have been stolen by mobs from several government armouries since violence first broke out on May 3, largely between the Meitei and Kuki communities. Only 605 have been recovered. An official familiar with the matter, however, said these numbers could rise.
As parts of the agreement between government and Kuki insurgent groups in Manipur, all weapons were to be surrendered and deposited in a safe room under a double lock system. Some members were allowed to keep weapons as self defence but only confined to the camps where the leaders stayed. Earlier this year, however, the state government unilaterally walked out of some pacts.
‘....I want to tell groups involved in the suspension of operation agreement that any violation will be dealt strictly and will be treated as a breach of the agreement. All the terms of the agreement should be strictly followed by the concerned parties. We will monitor this strictly from today,” Shah said.
The mob targeted police stations and offices of Manipur Rifles, which is the armed wing of the state police.
In his security review meeting with police officers and paramilitary forces on Wednesday evening, Shah had directed authorities to recover weapons at the earliest and restore normalcy in the state.
On May 3, ethnic violence rocked Manipur in the wake of a high court order that recommended to the government that Meiteis, the largest community who make up 53% of the state’s population, be included in the scheduled tribe list. This prompted protests from tribal groups, particularly from the Kuki community, which in turn sparked clashes that snowballed across the state for days. By May 5, top officials had confirmed seven to eight instances of looting of arms from police personnel and armoury by groups over 5,000 people.
