35 bunkers dismantled in Imphal East in two days as security forces step up ops in Manipur

Stepping up operations in the Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley, security forces in Manipur dismantled at least 35 "bunkers" in the Imphal East district in the past 48-hours as the pressure for recovery of the missing weapons increased for restoration of peace in the conflict-hit state.

Sources in the Manipur police said 17 bunkers were dismantled during operations on Thursday while another 18 such hideouts were evicted by the security forces on Wednesday. Arms, ammunition and locally-made equipment were also seized during the drive.

An image showing some of the arms seized by security forces.

The "bunkers" were constructed by youths belonging to both the Meitei and the Kuki communities for "guarding" their villages situated along the "buffer zone" dividing the Meitei-dominated Valley and the Kuki-dominated hills.

Although organisations belonging to both communities claim that such "bunkers" are used by "village volunteers" for guarding their villages from attacks, sources in central security forces told DH that such "bunkers" were also used as hideouts by the "armed miscreants" belonging to both the communities to launch attacks on each other. "They use these underground bunkers as hideouts after carrying out attacks or to launch retaliatory attacks," a source said.

Although the operations to dismantle such "bunkers" were first launched in July, the drive was less effective in the Meitei-dominated Valley districts like Imphal East, Imphal West and Bishnupur.

Sources said the drive was intensified as the Manipur government faced allegations that it was not acting against the "armed miscreants" in the Valley as strongly as it was doing so against similar elements in the Kuki-dominated districts like Churachandpur and Kangpokpi.

Manipur police, however, rejected such allegations and said that the drive was continuing in both the hills and the valley.

Areas along the boundaries of Meitei-dominated Bishnupur and Kuki-dominated Churachandpur districts reported fresh firing between August 29 and September 1 in which eight persons were killed (both Kuki and Meitei) and several others were injured. The fresh firing, according to sources, intensified pressure on the security forces to step up operations for recovery of the weapons and dismantling the "bunkers."

Sources said although the report suggested that nearly 6,000 weapons were either snatched or stolen from armouries of police or Indian Reserve Police battalion store rooms, less than 2,000 of them have been recovered so far.

More than 170 people have been killed and 60,000 others displaced due to the attacks between the Meiteis and the Kukis since May 3.