Imphal: On the night of November 17, protests and violence in the valley regions of Manipur persisted, resulting in one fatality and one injury. In the Jiribam neighbourhood, security personnel opened fire to scatter a throng, killing K Athouba, a 21-year-old. Around 11 p.m., the incident happened in Babupara. Just 500 metres from the Jiribam police station, a mob burned furniture and other items of the local offices of the political parties, further escalating tensions.
Although his health is still unknown, the injured person was taken to a local hospital and is presently undergoing treatment. With security personnel in there to quell unrest, the violence occurs while tensions in the district and throughout Manipur are at an all-time high. Following the deaths of six individuals, which have sparked new waves of violence in the valley, a curfew is still in place in Imphal West and East, and internet access is blocked in seven districts. Manipur’s continuing turmoil escalated on Sunday evening when a crowd vandalised BJP MLA Kongkham Robindro’s ancestral home in the Imphal West district. This incident comes after the MLA’s personal home was attacked, partially torched, and ransacked the day before.
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Police claim that the crowd broke into Robindro’s ancestral home in Mayang Imphal and demanded to speak with the lawmaker about his stance on the state’s ongoing political and ethnic unrest. Robindro’s father promised the group that any communications would be forwarded to the MLA because Robindro was not home. The demonstrators wanted to know Robindro’s thoughts on the current violence. The recent killings of six persons by militants in the Jiribam hill district, including three women and children, have triggered violent protests in the Imphal Valley, which coincide with the attacks.
Several state ministers’ and MLAs’ properties were looted on 16th November onwards when rallies descended into violence. To restore order, authorities enforce an indefinite curfew. Ethnic conflict between the Kuki in the highlands and the Meitei population in the Imphal Valley has killed more than 200 people and displaced thousands more since May 2023. As efforts to stop the violence continue, the situation is still tight.
Five remains of people who were kidnapped from the Jiribam district of Manipur have been post-mortem examined at a state-run hospital in the town of Silchar, Assam, according to sources on Monday. The bodies of five of the six people who were kidnapped from Jiribam following a gunfight between security forces and Kuki-Zo terrorists that killed ten terrorists on November 11 were discovered in the Jiri River in Jiribam and the Barak River in Cachar, Assam, in the past few days. They were taken in a “highly decomposed state” to Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH).
Meanwhile union home minister Amit Shah has reviewed the security situation of Manipur with the top officials of central arm forces and home ministry officials. The centre has decided to deploy another 50 companies of CAPF in Manipur to restore permanent peace immediately.
