Manipur violence: Life limps back to normalcy, curfew relaxed

Life started limping back to normalcy under the watchful eyes of army drones and helicopters deployed for aerial reconnaissance as curfew was relaxed on Sunday in parts of Manipur which witnessed bloody ethnic rioting over the last few daysPeople were seen coming out in large numbers to buy food medicines and other essential commodities during the curfew relaxation period from 7 am to 10 am in riotaffected Churachandpur townArmy and Assam Rifles columns conducted a flag march through the town as soon as the curfew relaxation ended at 10 am In all some 120125 Army columns have been deployed in the entire riothit stateSources said some 10000 soldiers paramilitary and central police forces have been deployed in Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh said peace committees will be formed in every assembly constituency to ensure that peace initiatives are implemented at the grassroots levelA defence statement said that 23000 civilians from all communities have been rescued so far and were moved to military garrisonsThe clashes broke out after a Tribal Solidarity March was organised in the ten hill districts of the state to protest against the Meitei communitys demand for Scheduled Tribe ST statusMeiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipurs population and live mostly in the Imphal valley Tribals Nagas and Kukis constitute another 40 per cent of the population and live mostly in the hill districtsRay of hope due to efforts of 120125 Army and Assam Rifles columns who are working tirelessly for the past 96 hours to rescue civilians across all communities curb violence and restore normalcy has emerged with no major violence being reported and curfew therefore being relaxed from 710 am today in Churachandpur followed by flag march by security forces immediately thereafter the statement saidThe past 24 hours also witnessed army significantly enhancing surveillance efforts through aerial surveillance movement of UAVs and redeployment of army helicopters within Imphal Valley A total of 23000 civilians have been rescued till now and moved to own military garrisons it addedAlso readTharoor slams BJP over Manipur situation calls for imposition of Prezs ruleThe curfew in Churachandpur where violence was first reported on May 3 was also relaxed for two hours from 3 pm to 5 pm on Saturday With the law and order situation improving in Churachandpur district and after talks were held between the state government and various stakeholders Im pleased to share that the curfew will be partially relaxed as per the details shared below sic Chief Minister N Biren Singh tweeted on Saturday night sharing a copy of the notificationSingh after chairing an allparty meeting over the prevailing situation in the violencehit state said During the meeting it was resolved to appeal for peace in the state and encourage all citizens to avoid any actions that could lead to further violence or instabilityThe meeting was attended by representatives of various political parties including the Congress CPI JDU NPF Shiv Sena TMC BSP AAP MPP AIFB MNDF ABHKP and former CM O Ibobi Singh It was further resolved to form a peace committee in every assembly constituency to ensure that peace initiatives are implemented at the grassroots level he tweetedViolence first erupted in Torbung area in Churachandpur district during the Tribal Solidarity March organised by the All Tribal Student Union Manipur ATSUM on May 3 to protest the demand of Meiteis for Scheduled Tribe ST statusThe march was organised by tribals including Nagas and Kukis after the Manipur High Court asked the state government last month to send a recommendation to the Centre within four weeks on the demand for ST status by the Meitei communityDuring the march in Torbung an armed mob allegedly attacked people of the Meitei community leading to retaliatory attacks in the valley districts which escalated the violence throughout the state police saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever