Manipur asks Centre for helicopters after two security personnel killed in state

On Wednesday, T Ranjit Singh, the state’s Home Department Commissioner, wrote to the Home Ministry requesting “air assets” or helicopters to be placed in Imphal immediately for a minimum period of seven days citing “emergency requirements” in light of the incident.

“The law and order situation at the border town of Moreh has become a matter of serious concern as there have been continuous exchanges of fire taking place and this has resulted in the death of one IRB personnel this morning. In view of the prevalent situation, the situation may deteriorate further in Moreh, medical emergency may arise any time. Police department has also informed that there is also need for airlifting of security personnel, ammunition, etc to Moreh,” wrote Singh.

After the morning’s incident, combined teams of police and security forces launched operations to crack down on the assailants.

“The firing had started early in the morning after which security forces entered the areas to neutralise it. In the midst of this, a few miscreants set some buildings on fire. We do not know who these are. Police and security forces are coordinating and executing the ongoing operation,” said a security source.

Kuki-Zomi organisations held Manipur police commandos responsible for the arson, saying multiple houses and two schools had been gutted by the afternoon.

On October 31, 2023, Chingtham Anand Kumar, an SDPO with the Manipur Police, was shot dead in Moreh, and on Monday evening, police had arrested two men, Philip Khaikholal Khongsai and Hemkholal Mate, and stated that they were “among the main suspects” for the killing of Anand.

This arrest had caused unrest in the Kuki community, the majority in the mixed population town, after which a curfew was imposed in the Tengnoupal district, under which Moreh falls.

Two Kuki-Zomi organisations – the ITLF and COTU – had issued a joint statement claiming that the two men had been wrongly linked to the killing of the police officer. The organisations declared a 48-hour deadline for their release, failing which they said they would “not allow the one-sided communal government favouring only the Meiteis to function in Kuki-Zo areas”.

Capital Imphal, meanwhile, was tense as news of the killing of the personnel reached the city. Large number of women took to the streets during the day and in the evening demanded that more reinforcements of state police forces be deployed in Moreh. Meitei civil society groups also alleged the involvement of Myanmar nationals in the attacks against the police in Moreh and questioned the role played by central forces in the town.

“At this crucial situation in Moreh, people of Manipur are questioning the central government’s inaction against the external Myanmari Kuki militants even when they attacked state security forces in broad daylight,” read a statement by Meitei group COCOMI.

Last week, Manipur security advisor Kuldiep Singh had said there is no evidence to suggest Myanmar-based militants were involved in another attack in Moreh on January 2, in which five state police commandos and one member of the Border Security Force were injured, and in relation to which the same allegation had been raised.

The killing of the two personnel on Wednesday comes after almost continuous tension in Moreh since the killing of Anand Singh, with attacks on the police commandos deployed in the town in the aftermath of the incident and locals agitating for their removal, accusing them of being partisan. As of Wednesday night, firing had slowed down in Moreh but there were reports of firing in Thoubal district in the valley.