Shutdown disrupts normal life in Manipur's Churachandpur, Kangpokpi districts

Security forces patrol along a street in Imphal during an earlier curfew. Representative Image/ PTI

A shutdown in Manipur's Churachandpur and Kangpokpi districts disrupted normal life on Saturday, with markets and vehicles off the road, according to officials. The outage, which began on Friday, is scheduled to last until Sunday. So yet, no cases of violence have been reported, reported PTI.

According to the news agency report, the shutdown was organised by Kuki-Zo groups, including the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) and the Kuki Students Organisation (KSO), in response to a comment made by Security Advisor Kuldiep Singh. On September 20, Singh said that security forces had taken action in response to intelligence that "900 militants" planned to attack villages on the Imphal valley's outskirts.

However, on Wednesday, the state government retracted the assertion, noting that the prospect of such terrorist action was "minimal and unsubstantiated", the report added.

Large cache of arms and ammunition seized in conflict-hit Manipur

Security forces have seized a significant cache of arms and ammunition across three districts in Manipur, which has been affected by ongoing ethnic violence, according to a police statement on Saturday, stated another PTI report.

According to the report, Manipur Police and Assam Rifles conducted a joint operation in Kangpokpi district and recovered two.303 rifles, a 9mm handgun with a magazine, ammunition, four hand grenades, two detonators, one country-made mortar, and a long-range improvised mortar from the Loiching ridge.

In another operation in Gothol village, Churachandpur district, a joint force of state police, BSF, and CRPF confiscated two homemade mortars known locally as 'pumpis'. Meanwhile, in the Phainom hill range of Thoubal district, state police and Assam Rifles seized four HE-36 hand grenades, two 'pumpi' shells, three detonators and one stun grenade, stinger grenade and tear gas shell apiece, the PTI report stated.

These seizures occurred during security officers' search and area dominance operations on Friday. There have been no arrests in relation to the confiscated guns.

Since May 3, last year, over 200 people have been killed and hundreds homeless as a result of ethnic violence between the Meitei community of Imphal Valley and the Kuki community of the neighbouring hill ranges, according to the report.