Anti-blockade clashes erupt in Imphal district, 20 vehicles burnt

Guwahati/Imphal: The Manipur government suspended mobile Internet services in Imphal West district and clamped indefinite curfew in some areas of the state on Sunday as counter-economic blockade supporters torched over twenty vehicles on Sunday.

The government reviewed the fast deteriorating law and order situation as the landlocked state plunged into a fresh cycle of violence following Friday’s serial blasts and an alleged attack on a church.

Locals in Imphal Valley have been running counter-economic blockade drives at various places, pulling down essential commodities from vehicles headed for hill districts for the last few days.

Residents of the state have been facing acute hardships because of the blockade on two key national highways enforced by Manipur’s apex Naga organisation, United Naga Council (UNC), on November 1 following the state government’s announcement of formation of seven new districts, four of which have been formally inaugurated.

The UNC has accused the Congress government of doing racial politics by dividing the Naga-inhabited area of Manipur in different districts. Political observers claim that the government has been trying to appease the Kukis through the move, opposed by the UNC.

The government action on Sunday follows a 24-hour bandh called to protest hill-based militants’ attacks on the Manipur police across the state that left three policemen dead and 14 others injured on Thursday. The militants also snatched several weapons from jawans of the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) on Saturday.

All measures were being taken to contain violence by deploying a large number of police personnel in sensitive areas of the state, senior police officers at Imphal said.

Fears of ethnic clashes were also looming large on the state as the two dominant communities of the state — the Nagas and the Meiteis — are divided over the issue of the indefinite economic blockade by the UNC.

The UNC intensified its blockade after two of its key leaders were arrested. Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh who is facing protests in the Naga-dominated hills of the state rejected the demand of releasing UNC leaders, saying “Law will take its own course.”

Tension in the state heightened after suspected militants continued their violent attacks against the Manipur police and other state forces in the last few days. The attack was followed by triple bomb blasts in Imphal West district allegedly by Manipur Naga People’s Front.

In another incident, suspected militants overpowered a small outpost of the IRB in Tamenglong district and fled with nine service weapons.