Curfew-like restrictions have been imposed in the Imphal Valley amid a call given by a Meitei civil society group to march towards the Bishnupur-Churachandpur boundary on September 6 to remove an Army barricade.
The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), an influential Meitei group, had asked the youth and locals to come out in large numbers on September 4 to push the barricade further to the hill district of Churachandpur. The group said that the failure of the State and Central governments to remove the barricade by August 30 was the reason behind the protest march.
The barricade at Phougakchao Ikhai in Bishnupur lies on the main highway connecting Imphal and Churachandpur. COCOMI wants it removed and placed at Torbung Wangma instead.
This is the same area where Kuki groups on August 3 had planned the mass burial of 35 people from the community who were killed in the ongoing ethnic violence. The burial was deferred following an intervention by the Union Home Ministry and the Manipur High Court. The burial was planned on a piece of government land on the Churachandpur-Bishnupur border.
The area has seen frequent clashes between the tribal Kuki-Zo and the Meitei communities. A police armoury was looted on August 3 at Narainsena in Bishnupur. Recently, as many as eight people were killed and 29 injured when clashes erupted between the two groups between August 29 to September 1.
Many Central security forces and Army personnel are deployed in the “buffer zone”.
On Tuesday, the District Magistrate of Imphal West issued an order for curfew relaxation from 5 a.m.-6 p.m. on September 6. Hours later, the order was withdrawn.
A fresh order said: “Due to the developing law and order condition in the district, the curfew relaxation order stands cancelled for all areas of Imphal West District.”
However, movement of persons providing essential services such as health, electricity, personnel of the Public Health Engineering Department, petrol pumps, schools and colleges, municipalities, press and electronic media, the functioning of courts, and the movement of passengers to the airport are exempted from the curfew.
