New Delhi: The Centre has directed telecom operators in strife-torn Manipur to preserve all call records of citizens for a period of five years.
The instructions were issued to telecom operators after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) gave directions in this regard to the Department of Telecom (DoT), reported The Tribune, quoting sources.
The directions to preserve call records were issued to track the possibility of armed militants being in touch with extremists from across the Myanmar border.
Sources said that during a recent meeting, the telecom operators were asked to maintain the CDRs of people of Manipur for five years.
The move comes amidst incidents of violence being perpetrated by armed militants, with security agencies suspecting that they were armed with sophisticated weapons, a fact that gives rise to the possibility of weapons being supplied to the militants by extremists operating across the Myanmar border.
After tensions in the Imphal valley over the six people who went missing from Jiribam escalated into violence last week, the authorities imposed an indefinite curfew across multiple districts of the valley and curbed internet services in these districts as well as two Kuki-Zo-dominated hill districts to curb the unrest.
The state government has also extended its ban on internet and mobile data services in the nine districts till November 26. Along with the mobile internet ban, VSAT and VPN services have also been banned.
The ethnic violence in the state erupted in May last year, following which segregation between the Meiteis and Kuki-Zos reached near-complete levels. The two communities are physically separated by buffer zones patrolled by security forces.
The opposition Congress has demanded the resignation of Union home minister Amit Shah, citing his failure to stop the ongoing violence in Manipur, as well as the resignation of Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh.
