Bhupen Goswami
Guwahati: The death toll in the ongoing violence in Manipur has risen to 63. A total of six people have been killed in Manipur in the last 12 hours. On May 5 midnight, four people were killed in a firing incident in Churchandpur district. The shooting took place when members of the Maitei community were being evacuated from the area. On the night of May 5, a tax assistant was also killed in Imphal. The firing incident took place after the Army claimed that the situation in Churchandpur was under control but locals said the situation was “very serious” now. Manipur has been heavily deployed after violence broke out on May 4. The Manipur government had ordered a ‘shoot at sight’ to control the violence. So far, more than 43 thousand people have been evacuated from the violence-affected areas. The name of the tax assistant who died in Imphal was Letminthang Haokip. Protesting his death, the Indian Revenue Service Association called it “cowardly”. The association tweeted posting a photo of Haokip. On May 5 midnight, a CRPF Cobra commando was shot dead in Churchandpur. The CRPF personnel were in their village on leave. According to the police official’s news, constable Chonkholen Haokip was killed between 2 and 3 in the middle of the night. It is being told that some armed people entered the village and killed the soldier. On the incidents of violence, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju told the media that the Government of India is taking all necessary steps to stop the violence. Rijiju said that violence will hurt the development of the state, so I appeal to everyone not to harm them. According to the police official, shops and markets were open in Imphal Valley on the morning of May 6, but in view of the deteriorating situation, all the shops have been closed. I didn’t even see cars on the roads. However, rapid action force and central police forces continued to be deployed in large numbers on all major roads. Internet is still suspended in the state.The entire ruckus in the state began following an order of the Manipur High Court on May 4. The court had directed the state government to include the Maitei community in the Scheduled Tribe category. The Maitei community had been demanding this for a long time. Tribal groups in the state, especially belonging to 34 tribes, including Naga and Kuki tribes, came out in protest. An Assam Rifles official in Imphal said they had received inputs that “80 to 200 people had gathered and four people were killed in the firing”. “The evacuation of people from various parts of the state is continuing unabated. It is common to block roads in different parts of the state. A senior official of the central security forces also confirmed the death of four persons due to bullet injuries. But a senior district police official put the number at three. Civil rights activist Irom Sharmila Chanu has called upon the women of Manipur to work together to restore peace in the violence-hit state, irrespective of their ethnic background. The ‘Iron Lady’ also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to visit Manipur to understand and resolve the issues. The activist, who had gone on a record-breaking hunger strike for 16 years, was the face of the women’s movement working towards peace in the state. The movement had demanded the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which empowers security forces to arrest persons without a warrant and shoot them without a magisterial oversight. There have been reports of Kuki women in Churachandpur town forming human chains to rescue people from the Meitei community from rioting mobs and assist them in escaping on army vehicles, as well as similar incidents in Imphal city, where Meitei women helped evacuate tribal students to safety.
