Amid fresh reports of violence in Manipur, the Imphal administration on Wednesday decided to backtrack on curfew relaxations with immediate effect. The district administration had ordered a relaxation of curfew on October 31 in which movement was allowed between 5 am to 10 pm.
However, citing law and order situation in the region, the administration has decided to roll back the order. This comes after reports emerged of heavy firing between an armed Meitei mob and Manipur Rifles.
The Imphal East District Magistrate announced restrictions on movements in the area excluding essential services including health, PHED, municipal officials/staff, power, petrol pumps, functioning of courts, to and fro movement of flight passengers and media personnel.
The order read, “Due to the developing law and order situation in the district (curfew) relaxation orders cancelled with immediate effect. However, movement of persons belonging to essential services such as Health, PHED, Municipal Officials/Staff, Power, petrol pumps, functioning of Courts, to and fro movement of flight passengers and Media personnel shall be exempted from the imposition of curfew.”
Meanwhile, further reports claimed that a group of people also tried to gherao a Manipur Police office complex and demanded arms from the police. The police resorted to warning shots in the air to disperse the mob after they sensed danger.
It may be noted that tensions are on the rise again in Manipur following the recent killing of a police official by tribal militants on Tuesday morning.
In addition to rolling back the curfew restrictions, the Manipur government has also decided to extend the ban on mobile internet services for another five days.
The Manipur Home Commissioner in an order said, “There is apprehension that some anti-social elements might use social media extensively for transmission of images, hate speech, and hate video messages, inciting the passions of the public, which might have serious repercussions for the law and order situation in the state of Manipur.”
The ethnic clashes that first broke out in May this year, has claimed the lives of more than 180 people and left several hundreds injured.
