Manipur CM convenes NDA meeting to discuss developing situation

IMPHAL: Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh has convened a meeting with ministers and MLAs of the ruling NDA here at 6 pm on Monday to review the "developing law and order situation in the state", officials said.

The development comes amid the National People's Party (NPP), which has seven MLAs in the 60-member Manipur Assembly, withdrawing support from the BJP-led government, claiming that the N Biren Singh dispensation has "completely failed to resolve the crisis and restore normalcy" in the northeastern state.

The withdrawal of support on Sunday, however, would not have any impact on the BJP government, as the saffron party enjoys a majority with its 32 MLAs. The saffron camp has also the support of five MLAs of the Naga People's Front (NPF) and six JD(U) legislators.

Meanwhile, secretary to the chief minister, Ningthoujam Geoffrey, in a letter to the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), requested the influential body in Imphal Valley to "refrain from taking up any violent form of agitation at this critical juncture and to deliberate jointly".

The state government's request came even as COCOMI members began their campaign of locking government office buildings at Lamphel area in Imphal West district on Monday.

COCOMI had earlier said that "all government offices will be closed to protest the Centre's inability to secure the life and properties of the people from attacks and killings by suspected Kuki-Hmar militants".

Meanwhile, a protester was killed in firing during a clash between security forces and a mob that was vandalising properties in Jiribam district, police said.

Police confirmed that one person was killed in firing but said it was not immediately clear who opened fire, while eyewitnesses claimed the firing came from the direction of the security forces.

The incident took place late on Sunday night when agitators were vandalising properties at Babupara in Jiribam police station area to protest the killing of women and children abducted by militants.

"One person was killed in firing... it was not immediately clear who opened fire," a police officer said.

The deceased has been identified as K Athouba, who was in his twenties, he said.

The offices of the Congress and BJP, and a house belonging to Jiribam's Independent MLA were ransacked by a group of agitators. They brought furniture, paper and other things out of the properties and made a bonfire out of them in front of the buildings, officials said.

Earlier on Sunday, the body of another man, whose identity was yet to be ascertained, was found near Jiribam town and it was kept in the district hospital.

Meanwhile, the post-mortem examination of five bodies of persons who went missing from Jiribam district has been completed at a state-run hospital in Assam's Silchar town, sources said.

The bodies of five of the six persons who went missing from Jiribam after a gunfight between security forces and Kuki-Zo militants that resulted in the deaths of 10 insurgents on November 11, were found in Jiri River in Jiribam and Barak River in Assam's Cachar over the last few days and were brought to Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH) in a "highly decomposed state".

"The post-mortem examination of all the five bodies has been done in SMCH. The doctors concerned are in the process to prepare the report," a source privy to the development told PTI.

He said now Manipur Police will make necessary arrangements for taking the bodies back to Manipur and handing over the mortal remains to the bereaved family members but when it will be done is not yet known.

Meanwhile, K Rishikanta, vice president of BJP Manipur Pradesh SC Morcha, has tendered his resignation, citing personal reasons.

On November 15, office-bearers and executive members of BJP's Jiribam mandal had also tendered their resignations to the state president citing "unwelcome/helpless situation in Jiribam and Manipur as a whole".

An uneasy calm prevailed in Imphal Valley, where curfew remained enforced and internet services suspended after agitators vandalised and set ablaze properties belonging to several ministers and legislators.

Markets and business establishments, barring pharmacies, remained closed, while public transport was off the roads but a few private vehicles were seen on the roads.

Security forces have intensified patrolling in parts of Imphal and increased deployment at many of the residences of legislators as well as all major roads leading to the secretariat, state BJP headquarters and Raj Bhavan.

A BJP MLA's ancestral house was vandalised in Imphal Valley on Sunday, while a building owned by Ashab Uddin, the Independent legislator of Jiribam, was ransacked, officials said.

The incidents occurred a day after irate mobs set fire to the residences of three BJP legislators, one of whom is a senior minister, and a Congress MLA in various districts of Imphal Valley where an indefinite curfew has been clamped.

The properties of three other state ministers and six MLAs were attacked earlier on Saturday.

Security forces also foiled the attempt of the agitators to storm the ancestral residence of Biren Singh on Saturday evening.

Curfew was imposed for an indefinite period in Imphal East and West, Bishnupur, Thoubal and Kakching districts of Imphal Valley "due to developing law and order situation", he said.

The state administration suspended internet services in seven districts.