Indefinite shutdown in Manipur district against arrest of 4 Kuki-Zo people ends

IMPHAL — The indefinite shutdown, which began on Monday morning in Manipur’s Churachandpur district to protest against the arrest of four Kuki-Zo people by the CBI in connection with the killing of two young students, ended on Tuesday evening.

The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), which called the indefinite shutdown, on Tuesday, said that after careful consideration, the shutdown concluded at 6 p.m. on Tuesday evening.

Senior leader and spokesman of the apex tribal organisation Ginza Vualzong said that the ITLF would continue to monitor the situation and would issue a public notice if intense agitation is required.

In regards to the ITLF women wing weekly dharna (demonstration), considering the continuous two-day shutdown, the dharna would be cancelled on Wednesday and would be resumed as usual from next week.

During the two-day (Monday and Tuesday) total shutdown, normal life was crippled in the tribal dominated Churachandpur.

The police said that shops, markets, commercial and business establishments were closed, public vehicles had gone off the road, while government and non-government offices and financial institutions remained shut in view of the shutdown in the mountainous district.

Chief Minister N Biren Singh had said on Sunday that the four suspects in the murder of two young students have been arrested by the CBI and other security forces.

Immediately after the arrests, ITLF on Sunday night called the indefinite shutdown demanding the release of the four people, including two women, within 48 hours, “failing which, more intense agitation will follow in all hill districts of Manipur”.

Meanwhile, Manipur’s Kangpokpi-based tribal organisation, Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU), also threatened to launch an indefinite shutdown in the Kangpokpi district if the Central government did not release all those arrested by CBI and NIA during the past few days.

The COTU condemning the arrest of four people by the CBI in connection with the killing of two students, served a 48-hour ultimatum to the Union Home Ministry to direct the CBI to release all the arrested people and initiate an investigation of “Meitei criminals.”

COTU also demanded immediate release of tribal leader Seiminlun Gangte, who was arrested by the NIA on September 30. Gangte was arrested by the NIA in connection with a “transnational conspiracy by Bangladesh and Myanmar-based terror outfits to wage war against the government of India by exploiting the current ethnic unrest in Manipur” and the Kwakta car bomb blast in June which injured three. The NIA took Gangte to Delhi.

Ethnic violence devastated Manipur witnessed massive students’ agitations last week to protest the killing of a 17-year-old girl student Hijam Linthoingambi and 20-year-old Phijam Hemjit, who hailed from Bishnupur district and had gone missing on July 6 during the height of ethnic violence.

The photographs of the two slain students were circulated on different social media platforms on September 25 triggering the intense agitations in which at least 100 students, including girls, were injured after they clashed with the security forces, who prevented them from marching towards the Chief Minister’s bungalow.

In view of the students’ agitations, the state government has shut all schools in the state till October 5 besides re-imposing the ban on mobile internet services till October 6.

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