Manipurhas descended right into a renewed bout of ethnic bloodletting after a interval of relative calm, with the BJP-governed state reporting 11 casualties in a sequence of assaults since Sept 1 involving largely suspected tribal militants. Amid growing public unrest within the Imphal valley over the violence, Pr abin Kalita gives an outline of occasions within the run-up to the most recent upheaval in a state that has been a welter of battle since Might 2023.
‘Leaked’ audio triggers outrage
➤ On Aug 6, social media went to city with an audio clip containing purportedly offensive remarks a few neighborhood in a male voice alleged to be that of CM N Biren Singh.
The state govt issued two official statements 12 days aside — on Aug 8 and 20 — concerning the recording being “doctored”. The govt. termed the clip “a malicious try to incite communal violence and derail the peace course of” after a noticeable enchancment in regulation and order over the previous couple of months. By then, the harm was carried out
Dispute over talks supply to tribe
➤ On Aug 12, Biren Singh advised the meeting that the government would quickly maintain peace talks with the Thadou neighborhood, genealogically a part of the Kuki-Zo tribe, in reciprocation of a purported open letter from Thadou Group Worldwide.
Two days later, Thadou Tribe Council-Common Headquarters issued a press release terming the CM’s assertion “baseless”. It stated any dialogue that the council wasn’t a part of could be handled as “invalid”
Arson focusing on BJP functionary
➤ On Aug 27, unidentified armed males attacked the home of Manipur BJP spokesperson T Michael Lamjathang Haokip, who belongs to the Thadou neighborhood, in Churachandpur district. The CM described the assault a “direct problem to the unity and integrity of the state”.
Every week later, Haokip’s ancestral home was vandalised and set ablaze. On Aug 30, Biren Singh vowed to revive normalcy in “five to 6 months” with the Centre’s assist. He named Naga BJP MLA Dinganglung Gangmei as an emissary for proposed talks with Kuki-Zo and Meitei representatives.
‘Kukiland’ echo at tribal rallies
➤ On Aug 31, members of the KukiZo neighborhood held three rallies within the state to demand a separate administration for ‘Kukiland’ and protest in opposition to the viral audio clip allegedly that includes the CM’s “objectionable” feedback
Aerial assaults on valley villages
➤ On Sept 1, two villagers had been killed and several other others wounded in an assault on a pair of villages in Imphal West district. Suspected tribal militants deployed drones to drop explosives and used subtle firearms to focus on Koutruk village.
A second wave of drone assaults the subsequent day broken three India Reserve Battalion bunkers. On Sept 6, suspected militants carried out the first reported rocket assaults within the area, killing a 70-year-old priest and wounding five others when considered one of these landed on the house of the state’s first CM, Mairembam Koireng, in Bishnupur.
On Sept 7, six individuals had been killed in a gunfight between two teams in Jiribam, forcing the state govt to name in Military choppers for surveillance
E mail to Shah & avenue protests
➤ BJP legislator RK Imo Singh, who’s the CM’s son-in-law, emailed Union house minister Amit Shah asking for the 60,000-strong contingent of central forces deployed within the state to get replaced as that they had largely been “mute spectators” to violence by militants. In Imphal, college students took to the streets and demanded that the reins of the unified command that handles regulation and order be transferred to the state govt
