Violence Erupts In Manipur After Tribal Protests, Internet Snapped, Curfew In 8 Districts

Internet services have been suspended in Manipur for five days as violence erupted during a tribal agitation on Wednesday.

New Delhi: Total public curfew was imposed in eight districts of Manipur and mobile internet services were suspended for five days amid ongoing tensions in Churachandpur district on Wednesday, news agency ANI reported. According to the report, a mob also vandalised houses in the violence-hit district. The district administration imposed total public curfew, prohibiting the movement of any person outside their respective residences, with immediate effect.

The total public curfew prohibits the assembly of five or more persons, "which is likely to turn unlawful, and carrying of sticks, stones, firearms without a valid license, weapons or objects of any description which can be used as offensive weapons, prohibited in the whole jurisdiction of Bishnupur district with immediate effect," read the order.

Mobile internet was snapped in a bid to maintain law and order as thousands of tribals turned up at a 'Solidarity March' called by a students’ body in all the ten hill districts of the state on Wednesday, to oppose moves for inclusion of the majority Meitei community in the ST category.

It is to be noted that incidents of violence, including vandalizing of government properties, arson and subsequently setting the venue, where Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh was scheduled to inaugurate a facility, were reported after scores of agitated mob, led by the Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum, who objected to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government's survey of reserved and protected forest areas besides the wetlands in the state, went on a rampage.

The forum said in a statement that it has been compelled to carry out a non-cooperation movement against the state government so it has started to obstruct the official programs.

The Meiteis, who make up 53 per cent of Manipur’s population, inhabit the Manipur valley, which accounts for about one-tenth of the former princely state's land area, and claim that they are facing difficulty in view of "large scale illegal immigration by Myanmarese and Bangladeshis", news agency PTI reported.