Manipur: Mob forces Indian Army to release armed ‘terrorists’ in Imphal East

Even as the Union home minister was chairing an all-party meeting on Manipur in New Delhi on Saturday, 24 June, a band of armed insurgents identified as belonging to a proscribed Meitei group — the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) — were trying to move towards the hills from Imphal East.

The KYKL cadres were stopped by the timely intervention of the Indian Army.

However, the Spear Corps of the army in Manipur revealed that a mob of 1,500 civilians, led by women, then forced the army column to hand over the 12 insurgents who had beem apprehended with arms and ammunition.

In order to avoid escalation and having to open fire on the mob, the operational commander decided to withdraw after handing over the insurgents.

In updates released on their official Twitter handle, the Spear Corps maintained:

• Acting on specific intelligence, an operation was launched in Village Itham (6 km east of Andro) in Imphal East by security forces on Saturday morning

• After laying down a cordon, a specific search was undertaken to avoid hardships to locals in the area

• In the ensuing operation, 12 KYKL cadres were apprehended along with arms, ammunition and war-like stores

• Amongst the 12 apprehended, the self-styled Lt Col Moirangthem Tamba alias Uttam (mastermind of the Chandel attack where 6 personnel of the Dogra Regiment were ambushed in 2015) was positively identified.

• A mob of approximately 1,200–1,500 people led by women and local leaders immediately surrounded the target area and prevented security forces from going ahead with the operation

• Repeated appeals to the aggressive mob to let the security forces carry on with the operation did not yield any positive result

• Keeping in view the sensitivity of using force against a large, irate mob led by women and the likely casualties from such an action, a decision was taken to hand over all 12 cadres to local leaders

• Security forces lifted the cordon and left the area with the weapons and "war-like stores" recovered from the insurgents

In another statement released earlier, the Spear Corps confirmed reports of a firefight between security forces and armed militants in Urangpat and Gwaltabi villages: "Security forces responded firmly and resolutely to firing from automatic weapons by armed miscreants. In view of blocks by women-led crowd in YKPI (Yaingangpokpi), additional columns moved cross-country on foot to cordon off the area."

Again, the care to avoid civilian casualties may be noted here. But the question then arises, why are the civilians bent on helping the insurgents? And are the women and elders in particular being deployed (or volunteering deliberately) as a shield? Who exactly are these civilians and what their position is on the conflict may be surmised and hypothesised, but there are no concrete facts available at this time.

However, the cordon was partially lifted to give safe passage to the miscreants there too and for the mob to withdraw from the area, again to maintain peace, the statement had added.

The armed miscreants had sneaked into the area from Yaingangpokpi near the head of the Imphal Valley and were heading towards the hills on the afternoon of Friday, 23 June. The miscreants were firing with automatic weapons towards the villages of Urangpat and Gwaltabi.

The villages had already been deserted by the Kuki villagers but the security forces deployed in the vacant villages responded in a calibrated manner to foil the advance of the insurgents while avoiding undue risk to civilians who may have been in the area.

Meanwhile, at the all-party meeting with the Union home minister in Delhi, former chief minister of Manipur (thrice over) Okram Ibobi Singh lamented that he was barely given a chance to speak on behalf of the people of the state.