The shutdown called by Kuki-Zo groups affected normal life in Manipur’s Churachandpur and Kangpokpi districts last week, while fresh violence was reported from a village in Jiribam, officials said.
The shutdown was called by Kuki-Zo groups, including the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) and Kuki Students Organisation (KSO), in protest against Security Advisor Kuldiep Singh’s statement about militants entering the state from outside.
Markets and other commercial establishments remained shut in the two districts, while vehicles stayed off the roads, officials said. No untoward incidents have been reported, they said. Singh had on September 20 claimed that security forces have taken a number of steps in the wake of reports that “900 militants” who have entered the state might carry out violence in peripheral villages of Imphal valley districts.
The state government, however, retracted the statement, asserting that the likelihood of “any such misadventures by armed groups is minimal and unsubstantiated”. Meanwhile, fresh violence was reported from a village in Jiribam district, police said.
Armed men fired indiscriminately at Mongbung village from nearby hilltops and surrounding dense forests, prompting retaliation from ‘village volunteers’, they said.
Women, children and elderly people were moved to safer places following the violence, police said.
Security forces were deployed to control the situation, they said, adding that no casualties were reported.
