Surrender call: Groups retain sophisticated arms in Manipur

However, an examination of the surrendered weapons showed that 110 of them were single or double-barrel guns, 30 were country-made weapons and only 106 were sophisticated.

“Surrender of 738 weapons in a week is a good beginning. Never have so many weapons been surrendered within a week in the state. This shows that people are responding to the imposition of President’s Rule in Manipur. But we would like more sophisticated weapons to be surrendered and not single-barrel guns and country-made weapons. We hope the extension of the deadline will produce more encouraging results,” a senior home ministry official said.

Sources said many of the sophisticated weapons are being surrendered by those who have run out of ammunition.

More than 6,000 weapons were looted from police stations and state armouries in Imphal and the hills when the violence erupted in the state in May 2023. Since then, the police and the security forces have launched multiple drives to recover these weapons. Till date, only 2,500 of those arms, including the ones surrendered in the past one week, have been recovered.

“Manipur has remained strife-torn for a long time. Thus, both in the hills and the valley, households have guns. Most of these guns are single barrel or country-made weapons. So, surrender of such weapons, though a positive development, cannot be taken as a sign of groups on either side of the ethnic divide finally willing to abjure violence. Unless sophisticated weapons are surrendered in a large number, we have to keep our fingers crossed,” a Manipur administration official said.

Sources said it is for this reason that Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday asked the Manipur security establishment to first ensure recovery of all weapons looted from police stations and armouries.

“Unless that happens, all attempts to re-establish normalcy will likely fail. As long as a large number of civilians remain armed with sophisticated weapons, it is very difficult to prevent a fresh wave of violence from erupting. It just takes one death in these parts for a spiral of violence to take shape,” another official said.

In a statement on Friday, N Biren Singh’s office claimed it was on his appeal that weapons had been surrendered.

“The initiative began on May 31, 2023, when former Chief Minister Shri N Biren Singh made a heartfelt appeal to the people of Manipur to surrender firearms looted from security forces and police armouries… Respecting Shri N Biren Singh’s appeal, the people of Manipur demonstrated their commitment to peace and stability,” the statement said.