Manipur Violence: Attacks On Innocents Will Not Be Tolerated, Says Minister Basanta Kumar

In their stepped-up attacks in the past few days, suspected Manipur militants have killed at least seven people, including two police commandos, four villagers, and a Village Defence Volunteer.

Guwahati: In view of frequent and intensified attacks on the security forces and innocent civilians by suspected militants in the strife-torn northeast state of Manipur, state Education Minister Th. Basanta Kumar Singh on Friday stated that the state government is fully prepared to give a befitting reply to the militants behind these onslaughts.

In their stepped-up attacks in the past few days, suspected militants have killed at least seven people, including two police commandos, four villagers, and a Village Defence Volunteer (VDV). After paying tribute to one of the deceased commandos, T Saileshwar, who was killed at the Indo-Myanmar border town of Moreh in the state’s Tengnoupal district on Wednesday, at the Manipur police memorial complex in the state’s capital Imphal, Minister Basanta Kumar said that attacking civilians, as is known worldwide, is an act of terrorism.

“Fighting among combatants is different, but attacking innocent people cannot be accepted. From the state government’s and the armed forces’ side, a befitting reply will be given to the suspected militants who are behind these attacks,” said Basanta Kumar, who also holds the Law and Legislative Affairs portfolio.

On the other hand, a civil society group, while claiming that Indian Army personnel deployed at Bishnupur district’s Ningthoukhong Kha Khunou village were present during Thursday’s killing of the four civilians, demanded the Manipur government replace the Army with the state police force within 24 hours.

Suspected militants on Thursday killed four people: Thiyam Somen (54), Oinam Bamoijao (61), his son Oinam Manitomba (35), and Ningthoujam Nabadwip (38) in Ningthoukhong Kha Khunou village. The bodies of the victims of violence are currently being kept at the mortuary of the government-run Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Imphal for autopsy.

Leaders of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) formed on the killing of the four civilians by suspected militants stated that they would not claim the bodies of the deceased for performing last rites if the Army is not removed from the village within the stipulated time. Convenor of the committee RK Tombisana warned of launching agitation if the perpetrators behind the attack are not apprehended within the stipulated time given to the government.

Oinam Joychandra, a member of the Thinungei Zilla Parishad, claimed that the suspected militants gunned down the four civilians barely a few minutes after the Army personnel left the spot after fetching water at the Ningthoukhong Kha Khunou village.

Meanwhile, Bishnupur Superintendent of Police (SP) K Meghachandra said that the two persons from the Ningthoukhong Kha Khunou village, who were reported missing since Friday morning, were found safe at a nearby paddy field in the afternoon.