Manipur: Senior police officers dispatched to Jiribam as search for 6 missing persons continues

Pic/PTI

Senior officers of the Manipur Police have been dispatched to the Jiribam district to look after the search operation for the six people who went missing from a relief camp following the gunfight between militants and security forces in Borobekra, officials said on Friday, PTI reported.

IG and DIG rank officers were in Jiribam to supervise and coordinate the security force's efforts to find the three women and three children, they said.

Civil society organizations in the Imphal Valley have been claiming that the six missing people were abducted by retreating militants after security forces stopped their attack at the Borobekra police station, PTI reported.

According to the police, ten suspected militants were killed in the gunfight after the attack on Monday. However, a senior state government official had put the death toll at 11.

These six individuals who went lived in a relief camp on the premises of the police station, PTI reported.

Candlelight vigils were conducted in Imphal and Jiribam on Thursday night, asking for the "immediate release" of the missing persons.

As per PTI, the demonstrators in Jiribam accused the local politicians, which also includes the MLA, claiming that they were not taking any effective steps to find the missing persons.

A purported photo of the six missing individuals has been going viral on social media. Police said that they have seen the pictures but have not confirmed whether the six were kidnapped, PTI reported.

AFSPA reimposed in six disturbed Manipur areas

The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act has been reinstated by the Center in six Manipur police station areas, including the violence-hit Jiribam. In order to support military activities, a district or area is designated as "disturbed" under the AFSPA. The Union Home Ministry said in a statement that the decision was made because of the continued ethnic violence and the resulting unstable situation, PTI reported.

According to PTI, the police station areas where AFSPA has been reinstated are Sekmai and Lamsang in Imphal West district, Lamlai in Imphal East district, Jiribam in Jiribam district, Leimakhong in Kangpokpi and Moirang in Bishnupur. The recent order came after AFSPA was imposed by the Manipur government in the entire state on October 1, barring 19 police station areas including the six.

Following the discovery of a farmer's disfigured body in a field in June of this year, violence broke out in the ethnically diverse Jiribam, which had been mainly untouched by the clashes in the Imphal Valley and the surrounding hills. An intense battle with security personnel in the Jiribam district on Monday resulted in the deaths of eleven suspected militants. Armed terrorists from the same district kidnapped six civilians, including women and children, a day later. Because of its allegedly "draconian" aspects, there have been demonstrations and calls for the AFSPA to be completely repealed.

(With inputs from PTI)