IT Desk
Imphal, Aug 1:
Since the conflict began in Manipur on May 3, a total of 4617 arms have been looted from state armouries located in the districts of Imphal East, Imphal West, Kakching, Thoubal, Bishnupur, Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, Tengnoupal, and Kamjong. 1195 of these have been recovered.
The valley districts are Meitei dominated. Here 1057 nos. of arms have been recovered against a loss of 3994 arms here. On the other hand, in the Kuki-dominated districts of Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, and Tengnoupal, a total of only 121 arms have been recovered against a loss of 623 arms here. As per sources, ITLF had warned the District Police from taking any major steps for the recovery of arms.
A total of 6532 FIRs have been filed to date. Of these 2292 are in hill districts while the remaining are in Valley districts. Out of these 2292 FIRs in the Hill district, 2273 FIRs have been filed in the Kuki- dominated hill districts of Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, Tengnoupal, and Pherzawl. However, when it comes to taking action, only 18 arrests have been made in the hill districts of Churachandpur (10), Tengnoupal (0), and Kangpokpi (8) compared to a total of 267 arrests in the Meitei-dominated valley districts against miscreants for breaking the law. All these 18 persons arrested have been released on bail by the local court, that is, 100% released on bail. Compared to this, in the valley, 167 persons out of those arrested, that is 62%, have been released on bail.
Under preventive detention measures, a total of 17,154 persons have been bound down, out of which 17,139 (that is, 99.91%) are in valley districts, and the remaining 15 in the hill district of Tengnoupal. None in Churachandpur. None in Kangpokpi. Would this imply that Tengnoupal, Churachandpur, and Kangpokpi have been altogether completely peaceful all this while?
On 17 July, the vehicle of an Inspector General of Police was burnt down by Meitei mobs in the heart of Imphal city. In connection with this incident, 30 persons were arrested, of which 10 (that is, 33%) were released on bail, and the remaining 20 were remanded to judicial custody by the local court of JMIC, Imphal West. In contrast, two buses belonging to Meitei owners which were used by the RAF to transport its personnel were burnt down by Kuki mobs at Sapermeina Bazar in Kangpokpi district after forcing the fully armed RAF personnel to disembark. Only 9 persons were arrested for this crime and all nine (that is, 100%) were released on bail by the local court.
7 arrests have been made in connection with the FIR involving stripping, parading, humiliation, and sexual assault of 2 Kuki women, a related video of which went viral recently. The Officer-in-charge of Nongpok Sekmai Police Station in which the FIR has been re-registered has been suspended. The FIR has also been transferred to the CBI. The original Zero FIR was however lodged on 18 May 2023 at Saikul Police Station in Kuki-dominated Kangpokpi district. Despite being a rape case, this Police Station did not take any action after the Zero FIR was lodged such as examination of victims, and merely transferred the case to Nongpok Sekmai Police Station which had jurisdiction over the case, more than a month later, on 21 June, 2023.
These omissions have been done under pressure and influence of the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum, the Kuki group behind the call for “separate administration” promoted and backed by V. Hangkhanlian, an ex-Cabinet Minister in the erstwhile BJP 1.0 Government of N. Biren Singh. One may recall that V. Hangkhanlian was dropped from the first Biren Singh Cabinet in a mid-term reshuffle in 2020.
There are reports of the ITLF imposing schools in all Kuki-dominated districts to shun classes. There are also circumstantial evidence of threatening the next-of-kin of Kuki victims who were killed in the conflict from claiming compensation by the ITLF.
