NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, NOV 17
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has canceled his scheduled election rallies in Maharashtra as violent protests continue to sweep across Manipur’s Imphal Valley.
Amit Shah has returned to Delhi in light of the deteriorating security situation in Manipur, where tensions remain high following a wave of violent incidents linked to the killing of six civilians, including three women and children, in Jiribam district.
- The home minister will be holding a review meeting of the security situation in the northeastern states
- Strife-torn Manipur urges Centre to withdraw AFSPA
The home minister will be holding a review meeting of the security situation in the northeastern states.
Tension escalated in Manipur as irate mobs set fire to the residences of three more BJP legislators in various districts of Imphal Valley, officials said. The attack comes even as security forces foiled the attempt of agitators to storm the ancestral residence of Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh.
The fresh incidents of violent protests took place on Saturday night even as indefinite curfew was clamped after people, agitated by the killing of three women and children each by militants in Jiribam district, attacked the residences of three State Ministers and six MLAs earlier on Saturday.
Enraged people torched the houses of PWD Minister Govindas Konthoujam at Ningthoukhong, Hiyanglam’s BJP MLA Y Radheshyam at Langmeidong Bazar, Wangjing Tentha’s BJP MLA Paonam Brojen in Thoubal district and Khundrakpam’s Congress MLA Th Lokeshwar in Imphal East district, the officials said.
The legislators and their family members were not at home when the angry mob stormed their residential compounds, vandalised properties and set the houses on fire, police said, adding the houses were partially burnt in the incidents. Fire services rushed to the spots and doused the blaze before the flames engulfed the entire houses.
On Saturday night, protesters also advanced towards Biren Singh’s ancestral residence at Luwangshangbam in Imphal East but were stopped short of 100-200 metres by security forces. Security personnel, including Assam Rifles BSF and state forces, fired several rounds of tear gas shells, rubber bullets to disperse the protesters and foiled the attempt to damage Singh’s house, officials said.
Later, protesters burnt tyres on the main road leading to Biren Singh’s residence and piled iron roads to prevent vehicular movement. Protests continued till around 11 pm in Mantripukhri area, some 3-4 km from the CM’s ancestral home.
Officials said that many of the protesters had come in vehicles from other constituencies, and not from Heingang assembly seat, which the CM represented. On Sunday morning, the situation remained calm but tense in all five districts of Imphal Valley, where an indefinite curfew has been imposed and internet services suspended following violent protests after the discovery of the bodies of six persons, three women and children each, allegedly abducted and killed by militants in Jiribam.
Piles of burnt debris remained on the roads of state capital Imphal, a day after the violent protests. Security forces have intensified patrolling in parts of Imphal and increased deployment at many of the residences of legislators which were attacked on Saturday as well as all major roads leading to the secretariat, state BJP headquarters and Raj Bhavan.
Strife-torn Manipur urges Centre to withdraw AFSPA
Meanwhile, the State government has requested the Centre to review and withdraw AFSPA from areas falling under the jurisdiction of six police stations in the State, an official said.
The Centre has reimposed the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 in Manipur’s six police station areas, including violence-hit Jiribam.
A letter from the Joint Secretary (Home) to the Centre on Saturday, mentioned that “the State Cabinet has deliberated upon the same (reimposition of AFSPA) in its meeting held on November 15 and has decided to recommend to the Central government to review and withdraw the said declaration of areas falling under the jurisdiction of six police stations in the state as disturbed areas under Section 3 of AFSPA 1958.”
“It is accordingly requested to kindly review and withdraw the notification dated 14-11-2024 in public interest,” it said.
