Manipur: 1 killed, 2 injured, curfew tightens again

In fresh incidents of violence in restive Manipur, a man was gunned down by armed assailants of a different community while two others were injured in separate incidents in Bishnupur district on Wednesday, police said.

In view of the violence, district authorities have cancelled the curfew relaxation in Bishnupur, Imphal East and Imphal West districts, where the curfew was relaxed from 5 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Police officials in Imphal said that some armed youths had raided a few villages in Moirang in Bishnupur district and on hearing the commotion, some inmates of a relief camp there came out to see what was happening. A man, identified as Toijam Chandramani, 29, was hit by a bullet from behind.

He was immediately taken to a private hospital in serious condition but succumbed to the bullet injury after some time.

As tensions escalated after Chandramani's death, additional para-military and police personnel have been deployed to control the situation.

According to police, some miscreants belonging to a particular community torched three houses of different communities at Phoubakchao in Bishnupur on Tuesday night. In retaliation, some youths of another community burnt down four houses.

Since May 3, when ethnic violence erupted in 11 of the 16 districts in Manipur, an indefinite curfew was imposed and internet services were suspended while sporadic incidents of violence were reported almost every day. Army, Assam Rifles and Territorial Army have been deployed in 23 most sensitive and most volatile police station areas in 11 districts.

Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, who also holds the Home portfolio, said his government had sought more companies of central forces to deal with the recurring violence in some areas.

In the recent widespread ethnic violence in Manipur so far 71 people have been killed, 300 people injured including police personnel, nearly 1,700 houses were burnt, and more than 200 vehicles destroyed.

As the BJP government in Manipur sought more central forces in the state, the Congress leaders in Manipur were suspicions by bringing in more companies of the Central forces in the state, the government has attempted to turn to "Kashmirisation" of Manipur.

"It seems that more inflow of huge numbers of Central forces in the state might turn out to be an attempt to suppress the people just like in Kashmir," state Congress Vice President Hareshwar Goshwami said on Wednesday.

He claimed the government had failed to secure civilians in the peripheral areas of the valley, despite having sufficient Army and various central forces.

"There might be some hidden agenda of the BJP government to deal with the present conflict. That's why they sought more and more central forces," the Congress leader said.

Refuting the state government's claim of normalcy being restored, he pointed out that incidents of violence happening across the state in the last few days and the continuation of ban on internet services and curfew shows otherwise.

Compensations for victims of Kerala's boat capsize incident were given within a week after the incident, but even after three weeks, the government has not provided compensation to the victims and affected people in Manipur, Goshwami said, questioning why the state government is dealing lethargically.

The Congress had earlier dubbed the violence in Manipur "pre-planned" and demanded immediate imposition of President's Rule in the BJP-ruled state. Several party teams visited the strife-torn state and talked to the people of different communities in affected districts.