Manipur govt revises order imposing internet ban to cover 5 districts, not entire state

IMPHAL — The Manipur government, in a revised order on Tuesday, barred mobile internet services in five districts, instead of the whole state as announced earlier, for five days to prevent the spread of fake and concocted posts, photos, and videos and to maintain law and order, officials said.

Meanwhile, the Higher and Technical Education Department, in view of the prevailing unrest in the state, has closed all the government, government-aided, and private colleges, till September 12.

Home Commissioner N. Ashok Kumar, in the revised order, said that mobile internet would remain suspended for five days (till September 15) in five districts – Imphal West, Imphal East, Thoubal, Bishnupur, and Kakching.

Earlier Joint Secretary, Home, Mayengbam Veto Singh, in his order, said that the mobile internet ban has been imposed in the entire state to thwart the design and activities of anti-national and anti-social elements and to maintain peace and communal harmony and to prevent any loss of life or danger to public/private property, it has become necessary to take adequate measures to maintain law and order in public interest, by stopping the spread of disinformation and false rumours, through various social media platforms.

In the revised order, the Home Commissioner said: “…situation is likely to cause serious disturbances to the peaceful co-existence and maintenance of public order, do hereby order temporary suspension/curbing of internet and mobile data services including Lease Lines, VSATS, Broadbands and VPN services in the territorial jurisdiction of the Imphal West, Imphal East, Thoubal, Bishnupur and Kakching Districts of Manipur for five days with effect from 3 p.m. of September 10 till 3 p.m. of September 15 except for those cases whereby state government has exempted and allowed for whitelisting”.

The revised order was issued “ex-parte in public interest and in supersession of earlier orders”, it said.

The mobile internet ban was imposed and educational institutions were closed in view of the students’ protests, triggered by escalating violence in different districts.

Defying the curfew, over a thousand students staged protests in Imphal for the second day on Tuesday even as security forces lobbed tear gas shells and fired in the air to disperse them.

Authorities earlier on Tuesday reimposed curfew in three districts — Imphal East, Imphal West and Thoubal — after apprehending fresh trouble in the capital city and the adjoining areas. Since September 1, the violence escalated in the trouble-torn state, leaving at least 12 people, including two women, elderly persons and a retired soldier, dead and injuring over 20 people, by suspected militants and armed cadres in different districts. Of the 12 deaths, six people alone were killed in Jiribam district, adjoining southern Assam.