NPP pulls out of BJP-led govt in Manipur, Shah reviews security

Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed the Manipur situation with top security officials on Sunday even as ally National People’s Party (NPP) withdrew support to the BJP-led government in the strife-torn state that is encountering a fresh law and order crisis after the recovery of five bodies of women and children.

BJP deliberately wants state to burn: Kharge

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has alleged the BJP deliberately wants Manipur to burn as ‘it serves its leaders’ hateful divisive politics’

No let-up in violence

Congress and BJP offices were ransacked in Jiribam while irate mobs set afire the houses of MLAs of various parties

A BJP MLA’s ancestral house was vandalised in Imphal valley while a building owned by Ashab Uddin, the Independent legislator of Jiribam, was ransacked, officials said.

The incidents occurred a day after irate mobs set fire to the residences of three BJP legislators, one of whom is a senior minister, and a Congress MLA in various districts of Imphal valley where an indefinite curfew has been clamped. Security forces also foiled the attempt of the agitators to storm the ancestral residence of Manipur CM N Biren Singh on Saturday evening.

The NPP, which is headed Conrad Sangma, has expressed “deep concern” over the prevailing law and order situation. In a letter marked to BJP national president JP Nadda, the NPP said the Manipur Government, under the leadership of Chief Minister N Biren Singh, had “completely failed to control the ethnic violence and restore normalcy”.

Despite losing a key ally, the BJP government is most likely to stay stable as it enjoys majority with its 32 MLAs in the 60-member House. The saffron camp also has the support of five MLAs of the Naga People’s Front (NPF), six JD(U) legislators and three Independents.

Home Minister Shah, who was away to Maharashtra, rushed to Delhi after cancelling his poll rallies to convene the security meeting. The focus was on undertaking urgent measures to ensure peace in Manipur, said sources. Home Secretary Govind Mohan was among those present and Shah has convened another meeting of his ministry’s top officials tomorrow. CRPF Director General Anish Dayal too has been rushed to Imphal to oversee the situation.

Former Manipur Chief Minister and Congress leader Ibobi Singh has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s urgent intervention saying the situation had been “continuously deteriorating”. He warned that if there was any further delay on the Centre’s part in controlling the situation, the legislators from both the opposition Congress and even the ruling BJP may resign en masse.

Civil rights groups also issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the state government for taking action against insurgents. The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), which represents several civil society groups in Imphal Valley, called for military action against militants within 24 hours.

COCOMI spokesperson K Athouba called for the immediate repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which was recently reinstated in areas covered by six police stations.

Manipur has been reeling under ethnic tension since May last year, but the fresh violence has been triggered by the recovery of the five bodies. The victims belonged to a single family and are believed to have been abducted by militants.

The situation has been on the boil since November 15 after the bodies of a woman and two children, one aged eight months, were found floating in a river along the Manipur-Assam border. The three were part of a family of six who were reportedly kidnapped by armed militants during their encounter with CRPF personnel on November 11 in Jiribam. The encounter had resulted in the killing of 10 militants. The bodies of two more family members, a two-year-old child and an elderly woman, were on Sunday found floating in a river in Jiribam. The child’s body is learnt to have been found headless. The sixth family member was still missing, said officials.

Tribal bodies have claimed that the 10 suspected militants who were killed in an encounter were village volunteers. Their bodies were airlifted to Churachandpur on Saturday from Silchar in Assam where autopsies had been performed. The discovery of the bodies, said to be of Meiteis, and the November 11 encounter, as well as the killing of a tribal woman on November 7, led to violent protests, which resulted in imposition of curfew in two districts and suspension of Internet in seven districts.