Manipur: Shops shut, People asked to stay indoors after fresh clash

TIL Desk/National/NE/ Manipur remained tense but calm on Tuesday after incidents of violence were reported a day before in the northeastern state where at least 70 people were killed in ethnic violence since May 3.

Business establishments remained closed on Tuesday morning and people were asked by security personnel to remain indoors through the public address system in New Chekon area of Imphal East district, where a mob torched two houses after four armed people, including a former MLA, forced people to shut their shops on Monday.

Locals, armed with licensed guns, were found guarding their localities against possible attacks by constructing makeshift ‘bunkers’ in a few places including Pukhao and Leitanpokpi in Imphal East district and five such ‘bunkers’ were destroyed by security forces in Sinam Khaithong village in Imphal West on Monday, police said.

Sit-in demonstrations, mostly by the womenfolk, were reported in the valley districts, with the agitators demanding that the Suspension of Operation (SoO) with Kuki militants be abrogated and action be taken against them. They also demanded that ‘illegal Myanmarese immigrants’ be deported, poppy cultivation be stopped in the hill areas and also protested the hill MLAs’ demand for bifurcation of the state.