Total shutdown affects normal life in Manipur's Imphal Valley

Imphal: Normal life was affected in Manipur's Imphal Valley on Wednesday due to a total shutdown called by 13 civil rights organisations to protest the alleged abduction of three women and children each by militants in Jiribam district, officials said.

Business establishments and educational institutions in the five Imphal Valley districts of Imphal East, Imphal West, Thoubal, Kakching and Bishnupur were closed due to the shutdown which commenced at 6 pm on Tuesday.

Both private and inter-district public transportation also remained off the roads and government offices recorded negligible attendance, they said.

The shutdown was called by International Peace and Social Advancement (IPSA) along with All Clubs Organisations Association and Meira Paibi Lup (ACOAM Lup), Indigeneous People's Association of Kangleipak (IPAK) and Kangleipak Students' Association (KSA) among others.

No untoward incident was reported in Imphal Valley during the shutdown.

Two trucks carrying goods were, however, set ablaze allegedly by armed militants near Old Kaiphundai in Naga-dominated Tamenglong district near Jiribam.

Suspected hill-based militants stopped the trucks along NH 37 by firing several rounds in the air and then torched the trucks, an official said.

Rongmei Naga Students Organisation, Manipur strongly condemned the incident and alleged Kuki militants were behind it.

The trucks were transporting rice, onions and potatoes for Noney and Tamenglong districts, the students' body claimed in a statement.

The Manipur Police said 10 suspected militants were killed in a fierce gunfight with security forces on Monday after insurgents in camouflage uniforms, armed with sophisticated weapons, fired indiscriminately at the Borobekra police station and an adjacent CRPF camp at Jakuradhor in Jiribam district. However, a senior government official put the toll at 11.

Police said purported photographs of the six missing persons in captivity of militants doing the rounds on social media could not be confirmed and the rescue operations were on to trace them.

Meanwhile, the state unit of the Congress called for the immediate release of the three women and children each, asserting that the Centre should intervene immediately to bring an end to the clash between the two warring communities in the state.

Speaking to reporters, CLP leader Okram Ibobi Singh said, "The situation in the state has worsened in the last few days and nothing is predictable. The rescue or release of the captive women and children on humanitarian grounds would be the most desirable and righteous decision." Singh attacked the state government "over failure to protect lives and property".

"We are not a power-thirsty party but we want to stress that for a government, the priority is to protect peace," he added.

"Why are Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah still silent even when it is clear that six innocent women and children have been abducted? Are we not humans? This is not a war between different states or countries but a clash between communities within a state. The Centre and the state should have long brought a solution," he said.

"There is no place for violence in a democracy and talks should be initiated to resolve the issue. We have earlier stressed that the Centre should enforce a ceasefire and then call the warring groups for discussions to bring peace. Legal actions should be taken against those engaging in violence on both sides," the former chief minister of Manipur said.

Creating a conducive atmosphere before talks are initiated for a permanent solution is a must and the Centre has a big role to play in it, Singh added.

More than 200 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic violence between Imphal Valley-based Meiteis and adjoining hills-based Kuki-Zo groups since May last year. Ethnically diverse Jiribam, which was largely untouched by the clashes in Imphal Valley and the adjoining hills, witnessed violence after the mutilated body of a farmer was found in a field in June this year.