New Delhi: Manipur’s cabinet has asked the Union home ministry to “review and withdraw” its November 14 notification declaring six police jurisdictions in the state’s Imphal valley and Jiribam as disturbed areas under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act or AFSPA.
Signed by Mayengbam Veto Singh, a joint secretary in Manipur’s home department, the letter dated Saturday (November 16) said the state cabinet met on Friday to discuss the notification and decided to ask the Union government to withdraw it “in public interest”.
It did not elaborate on why the cabinet decided withdrawing the notification would be in the public interest.
In areas declared disturbed under the AFSPA, the armed forces can conduct searches and arrest people without warrant, as well as shoot people dead if deemed necessary. The Union government’s sanction is needed to prosecute soldiers operating in these areas.
While Thursday’s notification was issued by the Union government, The Hindu has previously noted that disturbed area notifications in Manipur are generally issued by the state government.
Saturday also saw violent protests in Imphal, Manipur’s capital city, against the alleged abduction – some have said by ‘militants’ – of six people from Jiribam earlier this week.
Mobs vandalised the homes of multiple legislators living the city and were dispersed using tear gas, state police said. Chief minister N. Biren Singh’s personal residence in the outskirts of the city was among those targeted, the Indian Express reported.
Tensions had flared after three bodies, believed to be of the abductees, were reportedly located along the Assam-Manipur border on Friday and intensified after three more bodies were reportedly found on Saturday, as per The Hindu.
Authorities responded by implementing an indefinite curfew in five districts of the Imphal valley – which is dominated by Meiteis – and curbing internet services in these districts as well as the Kuki-dominated districts of Kangpokpi and Churachandpur, PTI reported.
The six bodies were sent to the Silchar Medical College and Hospital in Assam’s Cachar district bordering Jiribam for post-mortem, the news agency also cited officials as saying.
Violence was also reported from Jiribam on Saturday, with the Express reporting that mobs set fire to properties belonging to the Hmar community, who are ethnically related to the Kukis.
Jiribam became the flashpoint for a spike in violence in Manipur earlier this month. A Hmar woman was allegedly fatally burnt by suspected militants on November 7, and three days later suspected militants fired at a police station and a Central Reserve Police Force post in the district.
The six people – whom PTI identified as Meiteis – were abducted on the same day. The Union home ministry issued its AFSPA notification three days after the incident.
Police said ten of the suspected militants were killed in a shootout with security forces. Their bodies were airlifted to Churachandpur from Cachar on Saturday, PTI reported.
Over 220 people have been killed during the ethnic violence between Meiteis and Kukis in Manipur since May last year and 60,000 people rendered displaced.
Segregation between the Meiteis and Kukis reached near-complete levels after the violence and the two communities are physically separated by buffer zones patrolled by security forces.
