GUWAHATI: Massive protests broke out in Manipur’s Imphal valley on Saturday after the bodies of six persons, believed to be of those reported missing from Jiribam district on Monday, were recovered from a river close to the border of Assam’s Cachar and Manipur’s Jiribam districts.
Miscreants also vandalised and burned down five churches and six houses in Jiribam on Saturday evening, the Indigenous Tribal Advocacy Committee claimed.
In the wake of widespread protests, the state government temporarily suspended internet and mobile data services in the affected districts.
The protesters attacked the houses of several MLAs and damaged properties at some places. They also stormed the houses of two BJP ministers. Vehicles were also set on fire. One of the MLAs, whose house was targeted, was R K Imo, who is the son-in-law of Chief Minister N Biren Singh.
As the protesters are going for the jugular of the elected members for failing to control the escalating violence, speculations are rife that some of the BJP’s legislators could resign on Sunday.
The influential Meitei organisation ‘Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity’ announced a civil disobedience movement from Saturday.
The bodies of all six persons were taken to the nearby Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH) in Assam’s Cachar district for post-mortem. Three of the bodies were recovered on Friday and the others on Saturday. The state government in a statement issued earlier in the day confirmed that three of the bodies were of the missing persons.
Three women and three children went missing from Jiribam following Monday’s gunfight in which CRPF and police personnel had gunned down 10 “militants”. Kuki-Zo organisations claimed they were “village volunteers”.
Tension had been building across the Imphal valley since Friday night following reports about the recovery of three bodies. The protests intensified later in the day on Saturday when reports emerged about the recovery of three more bodies.