48-hour shutdown brings normal life to halt in Manipur

The 48-hour shutdown called by various Kuki-Zo groups paralysed normal life in tribal-dominated Churachandpur and Kangpokpi districts in Manipur on Saturday, with markets and other commercial establishments remaining shut while vehicles staying off the roads.
The total shutdown was called by Kuki-Zo groups, including the Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU), Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) and Kuki Students Organisation (KSO), in protest against alleged fake input shared by chief minister N Biren Singh’s secretary regarding “infiltration of 900 trained militants” from Myanmar to carry out attacks on Meiteis on September 28.
The shutdown began in the two districts at 6am on Friday and would continue till Sunday.
A large number of bandh supporters, primarily women, were seen blocking the Imphal-Dimapur National Highway near the Kangpokpi district headquarters and Gamgiphai.
No untoward incidents have so far been reported, police said.
On Thursday, a mass rally organised by COTU in Kangpokpi, during which a memorandum was submitted to Union home minister Amit Shah through the district’s deputy commissioner.
The memorandum emphasised the recent statement by the state government’s security adviser Kuldiep Singh, regarding the infiltration of militants from Myanmar, was viewed by the Kuki-Zo community as an attempt to propagate the same ethno-centric narrative led by the chief minister.
Earlier this week, however, the state government retracted the statement, asserting that the likelihood of “any such misadventures by armed groups is minimal and unsubstantiated”. Kuldiep Singh, in a joint statement with Manipur DGP Rajiv Singh, on Thursday said the input of infiltration of 900 trained Kuki militants from Myanmar to carry out attacks on Meiteis on September 28 could not be substantiated on ground.
The memorandum also demanded an expedited Suspension of Operation (SoO) negotiation with the Kuki-Zo insurgent groups.
Meanwhile, fresh violence was reported from a village in Jiribam district on Saturday morning, police said.
Armed miscreants fired indiscriminately at Mongbung Meitei village from nearby hilltops and surrounding dense forests, prompting retaliation from village volunteers, police said, adding women, children and elderly people were moved to safer places following the violence.
Additional security forces were deployed in the area to control the situation. No casualties have been reported in the Saturday violence, police said.
Since May 3 last year, Manipur has witnessed clashes between Meitei and Kuki communities, which has claimed at least 226 lives to date and uprooted around 50,000 people, many of whom are still residing in relief centres.