Manipur Tribal body calls shutdown against arrest of 4 people

way2barak, Oct 2 : Normal life was crippled in Manipur’s Churachandpur district as the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) called an indefinite shutdown from Monday in the tribal dominated district in protest against the “arrest of four Kuki-Zo people including two women”.

Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Sunday said that the four suspects in the murder of two young students were arrested on Sunday by the CBI and other security forces.

“On the direction of the Union Home Minister Amit Shah, a special CBI team led by the agency’s Special Director Ajay Bhatnagar, along with five officers, have been camping in Manipur since September 27.

A combined team of CBI, Army, Assam Rifles, and state security forces have arrested four suspects from Churachandpur district in connection with the murder of two young students. This is a major breakthrough to the heinous crime of two students’ killing,” Singh had told the media.

Immediately after the arrest of four people, the ITLF, an apex body of tribals in Manipur, on Sunday night called the indefinite shutdown in Churachandpur district.

The ITLF urged the CBI to release the four people within 48 hours, “failing which more intense agitation will follow in all hill districts of Manipur”.

“All boundary areas with the Meitei dominated areas were sealed from today (Monday). No one will be allowed to enter or leave the buffer zones. All government offices are closed from today (Monday),” said Ginza Vualzong, ITLF senior leader and Spokesman.

Police said that all kinds of commercial and business activities came to a stand still and public vehicles were off the road, government and non-government offices and financial institutions remained shut in view of the shutdown in Churachandpur district.

The ITLF strongly condemning the CBI action, on Monday said that four people were arrested by the central agency without the knowledge of local authorities and there were no women police officers and no juvenile police unit, as required by law when the secret operation was undertaken in a case related to the disappearance of two Meitei students.

“The arrests come less than a week after the appearance of photos that seem to show the dead bodies of the two students. If the CBI can act with such swiftness, why has it not arrested anyone in more heinous cases, like the rape and murder of two tribal girls in Imphal, the burning of a 7-year-old tribal boy along with his mother and aunt, the torture and beheading of a tribal youth, and so many other acts of atrocities against tribals ? And what about the thousands of weapons and lakhs of ammunition looted (distributed?) in the Imphal valley ?”

The tribal body said : “Does the central government think violence and shooting can stop without the retrieval of these weapons ?

Incredulously, the Chief Minister on Sunday has publicly said the “main culprits” in the students’ case have been arrested, even before any questioning (forget about a trial) has taken place. Tribals, it seems, are guilty until proven innocent.”

Manipur witnessed massive students’ agitations last week to protest the killing of 17-year-old girl student Hijam Linthoingambi and 20-year-old Phijam Hemjit, who hailed from Bishnupur district and had gone missing on July 6 during the height of ethnic violence in Manipur and their photographs were circulated in various social media on September 25.

The victims’ families suspected that their children had been killed by armed assailants.

At least 100 students, including girls, have been injured during the agitations after they clashed with the security forces, who prevented them from marching towards the Chief Minister’s bungalow.

In view of the students’ agitations, the state government shut all schools in the state till September 29 and re-imposed the ban on mobile internet services till October 6.