NEW DELHI: With fresh tension prevailing in Manipur after the gunning down of 10 militants by the CRPF, the Centre has deployed 20 additional companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) in the state, including 15 companies of CRPF and five of the BSF, until November 30. The militants killed by the CRPF have been claimed to be village volunteers by the tribal bodies of the state.
With the latest additional deployment, a total of 218 companies of CAPFs have been deployed in the state 115 companies of the CRPF, 84 of the BSF, eight of Rapid Action Force, six of Sashastra Seema Bal and five of the ITBP. The order regarding additional deployment was issued on November 12.
Meanwhile, 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, an official said.
Business establishments and educational institutions in the five Valley districts of Imphal East, Imphal West, Thoubal, Kakching and Bishnupur were closed due to the shutdown which commenced at 6 pm on Tuesday (November 12) and ended on 6 pm on Wednesday (November 13).
Both private and inter-district public transportation remained suspended and government offices recorded negligible attendance, the official added. The shutdown was called by International Peace and Social Advancement (IPSA), All Clubs Organisations Association and Meira Paibi Lup (ACOAM Lup), Indigenous People’s Association of Kangleipak (IPAK) and Kangleipak Students’ Association (KSA), among others.
No untoward incident was reported in the Valley during the shutdown, except two trucks carrying goods being set ablaze allegedly by armed militants near Old Kaiphundai in the 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.
Amid widespread condemnation by various tribal groups in Manipur of the November 11 encounter with CRPF personnel in which 10 militants were killed, the Mizo National Front (MNF) also condemned the killing of what they said were 10 Hmar volunteers.
“The Mizo National Front is deeply shocked and saddened by the killing of 10 Hmar volunteers who were guarding their village, allegedly at the hands of the CRPF, an entity expected to maintain neutrality in the ongoing ethnic conflict in Manipur,” the MNF said. It added that instead of fostering peace, the CRPF has exhibited bias, culminating in the extrajudicial killings of November 11.