Insurgency / Manipur

IMPHAL, Jan 9 — Apart from frequent road blockades and other forms of strike, the National Highway-39, the lifeline of Manipur, is still suffering from lack of proper repairing works. Though the national highway is giving life to more than 100 trucks and buses everyday, the signs of neglect on the highway are obvious. The present Advisor to Governor, EN Rammohan, had recently inspected the road along with the higher officials of the State Public Works Departments. However, no visible repairing work has been taken up so far. The travellers are put in an unviable position whenever they have to...

Imphal, January 09: The unilateral cease-fire announced by the KNF (MC) with the NSCN (IM) came into effect yesterday. In a statement yesterday KNF (MC) chief secretary Steward Haokip and secretary, information and broadcasting Th Edward Singsit said the unilateral cease-fire with NSCN (IM) is declared in order to accelerate peace and understanding between the Nagas and Kukis in good times. They said having gone through untold miseries, loss of properties and uncalled for death of innocents as a result of ethnic conflicts between the Kukis and Nagas with its fallout of casting serious doubts...

Imphal, January 07: Four IRB riflemen were killed and seven were injured in a booby trap explosion triggered by militants today at Kakching Khunou Lamkhai under Kakching police station at around 9.40 this morning. KYKL (O) has claimed responsibility for the attack. A special operation team of the outfit carried out the attack said a Commander of the team over phone later. He said the outfit had no intention of attacking IRB, MR and police personnel. It was a case of mistaken identity, he clarified. The outfit also expressed regret over the incident and shared the grief and pain of the bereaved...

Imphal, January 02: PLA 101 Bn commandant Dilip Leishemba has stated that people of the State do not want to live under the ?Indian colonial rule? as a survey conducted by the party shows that 80 percent of the people wants separation from India. Talking to reporters during the burning of two kgs of heroin powder, the biggest seizure of the Bn this year before villagers somewhere on the Indo-Myanmar border yesterday, he said that the RPF/PLA has been expanding ?liberated zones? day by day. Stating that the freedom struggle will certainly succeed one day, he said that nobody could stop them...

SUGNU, April 30: Nothing can be more ironic. Nothing can also illustrate the dilemma of a people caught in the crossfire between insurgency and those countering it. For the obvious fear of being reduced to mere numbers in the ever-lengthening list of innocent victims in crossfire, the people of Sugnu, a nondescript township 40 km from Imphal, are literally digging trenches inside their homes. And the irony is all this began happening after a BSF contingent set up camp at the local Public Health Centre, PHC, precisely for the reason of giving them protection. Rather than a sense of security...

IMPHAL, April 30: In accordance with an order issued by the Chief Minister Radhabinod Koijam, static house guards posted at the quarters and official residences of several ministers, MLAs and high ranking officials located at Babupara have been withdrawn from this morning. According to official sources, the withdrawal order does not cover the house guards of VIPs listed in the Z category. Escort details of all VIPs have also been left untouched. Top security officials said that as alternative security arrangements, three checkpoints, to be manned by Manipur Rifles personnel have been set up at...

IMPHAL, April 27: Chief Minster Radhabinod Koijam today informed the press that the Home Department has convened a high level meeting tomorrow at 4 pm to discuss the closure of Mission Schools in the valley following monetary demands from a militant group. The Chief Minister said that the meeting will discuss in detail the course of action that may be taken up by the Government. He also expressed confidence that the mater would be sorted out soon and the schools would resume normal classes. Meanwhile the All Manipur Catholic Schools (Valley) Teachers' Association has taken strong exception...

IMPHAL, April 26: The former Chief Minister, Wahengbam Nipamacha Singh, has strongly denied that he has ever paid any money to any underground outfit in Manipur. The former Chief Minister was reacting to reports in a section of the media that the Union defence minister Jaswant Singh had told Parliament that the Army has recovered a counterfoil indicating that he had paid a sum of Rs 1 lakh to an underground group. Issuing a statement in this connection, the former Chief Minister said the counterfoil said to have been recovered by the Army may have been fabricated by vested interests with the...

IMPHAL, April 26: Former Deputy Chief Minister L Chandramani today said that he has been trying to resolve the leadership crisis of the Manipur State Congress Party (MSCP) as the Chairman of a five member Re-unification Committee which was formed just after the fall of the then MSCP led United Front Government. Asked if there is any possibility of resolving the crisis in the party when the Election Commission has already recognized the two groups separately as MSCP(N) and MSCP(C), he said that anything can happen in politics and nothing should be read as final or definite. The time is not...

IMPHAL, April 24: Five persons have been handed over to Singhat police station in Churachandpur district of Manipur by the Border Security Force (BSF) personnel, police said today. Four civilians and a People's Liberation Army (PLA) cadre were handed over to Singhat police station on Sunday night, the police said. Earlier, Manipur Human Rights Commission (MHRC) had set a deadline of 24 hours for the Manipur Director General of Police (DGP) to locate the whereabouts of four persons believed to have been arrested by BSF personnel after an encounter. The deadline expired yesterday noon, an MHRC...