Manipur women stage protest demanding removal of security forces from Moreh

Imphal, Jul 31 (PTI) Over 1,000 women on Monday staged a protest in Manipur’s Churachandpur demanding immediate removal of state police forces from Moreh town.

They have threatened to launch a massive agitation in all the hill districts if their demand is not met.

On July 28, thousands of Kuki-Zo women in Tengnoupal district had blocked the road to Moreh, bordering Myanmar, to stop police forces from entering the town.

A convoy of ten vehicles of security forces including the Indian Reserve Battalion, Manipur Rifles and commandoes were heading towards Moreh town when the womenfolk obstructed them at Tengnoupal.

The protest by the women of Churachandpur comes a day after the opposition bloc INDIA on Sunday said if the conflict in Manipur is not resolved soon, it may create security problems for the whole nation.

A delegation of the non-BJP coalition, which visited Manipur state for two days from Saturday, slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his “silence”, showing “brazen indifference” to the ongoing ethnic strife in the northeastern state.

“If the conflict in Manipur is not resolved soon, it may create security problems for the entire country,” Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, a member of the delegation, said.

In a memorandum to Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey, the 21 opposition MPs who signed the document, demanded urgent rehabilitation and resettlement of the affected people to bring peace and harmony to the state.

“From the reports of incessant firing and arson of houses in the last few days, it is established beyond doubt that the state machinery has completely failed to control the situation for almost three months now,” the memorandum read.

More than 160 people lost their lives and several hundreds were injured since ethnic clashes broke out in Manipur on May 3, after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals — Nagas and Kukis — constitute little over 40 per cent and reside in the hill districts.