Apex Meitei body gives 24-hrs to Manipur, Central govts to take ‘decisive action’, residences of Ministers, MLAs attacked

Imphal, November 18 (IANS) The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), an apex body of the Meitei community, has given a 24-hour ultimatum to the Centre and the state government of 24 hours to take “decisive action” against armed groups or face public anger, as violent protests continued in the Valley districts and the houses of several ministers and MLAs were attacked by mobs.

COCOMI Spokesperson Khuraijam Athouba urged all the 50 MLAs (excluding 10 tribal legislators), comprising ruling and opposition parties to sit together and take decisive action against the armed groups and to resolve the ethnic crisis.

“All the MLAs and other leaders must sit together to take decisive actions to resolve the present crisis at the earliest. If they do not take any decisive actions up to the satisfaction of the people of the state, then the government will bear the brunt of the people’s discontent and anger,” Athouba told the media.

“Urgent military crackdown is necessary against the militants and all the armed groups,” the COCOMI leader said.

Strongly opposing the promulgation of the Armed Forces (Special Power) Act, 1958 in six police stations in five districts last week, he said that the Ministry of Home Affairs unilaterally imposed the AFSPA against the will of the people of the state even as there are no major incidents of violence in most of the six police stations.

Meanwhile, 13 civil society organisations, which observed a 24-hour shutdown in six Imphal Valley districts last week to protest the reported “abduction” of six people, belonging to the Meitei community, have called for the resignations of all 50 MLAs in Manipur, including Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, citing a lack of political will and warning of a potential public uprising.

Various other organisations and local clubs also issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the MLAs demanding they make a public statement on the ongoing turmoil in Manipur.

Meanwhile, mobs set fire to the residences of PWD Minister Govindas Konthoujam at Ningthoukhong and four more legislators – three more of the BJP and one of the Congress – in various districts of the Manipur Valley since Saturday night while the security forces foiled several other attempts, including on the ancestral residence of the Chief Minister at Luwangshangbam in Imphal East district.

The MLAs and their family members were not at home when the mobs including women attacked or tried to attack their residences.

However, the mobs vandalised vehicles and properties and set two houses on fire.

Assam Rifles, the BSF, and state forces, including commandos, fired several rounds of tear gas shells, and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters. injuring more than 15 people.

Protesters also burnt tyres on the main roads in the capital city and piled up various materials and heavy iron rods to prevent vehicular movement.

Mobs had attacked the residences of at least three ministers and six MLAs, mostly of the ruling BJP, on Saturday after the recovery of the bodies of six missing women and children in the violence-hit Jiribam district.

Police said that the mobs comprising men and women attacked the residences of ministers Sapam Ranjan Singh, Leishangthem Susindro Meitei and Yumnam Khemchand Singh in different places.

The mob also attacked the houses of six legislators, including that of Rajkumar Imo Singh, who is Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s son-in-law.

The six bodies, which are not yet identified by the family members, are believed to be of the six women and children missing since November 11 in Jiribam district. The bodies, found on Friday and Saturday near the confluence of the Jiri and Barak rivers along the Manipur-Assam border, were brought to the Silchar Medical College and Hospital in Assam for post-mortem examinations.

As the widespread attacks and protests started, authorities imposed a curfew for an indefinite period in Imphal East, West, Bishnupur, Thoubal and Kakching districts of Imphal valley “due to developing law and order situation”. Chief Secretary Vineet Joshi ordered the suspension of mobile internet and data services in seven districts — Imphal West, Imphal East, Bishnupur, Thoubal, Kakching, Kangpokpi, and Churachandpur — for two days from Saturday evening.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Saturday directed all the security forces to take the necessary steps to restore order and peace and take strict action against anyone trying to indulge in violent and disruptive activities.

An MHA statement said that the security scenario in Manipur has remained fragile for the past few days.”Armed miscreants from both communities in conflict have been indulging in violence leading to unfortunate loss of lives and disruption in public order,” it said.