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With the situation worsening in violence-hit Manipur, the state government Thursday authorised all District Magistrates to issue “shoot at sight orders” in “extreme cases”.
The order came a day after violent clashes broke out at several places during the course of a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ called by the All Tribal Students’ Union of Manipur (ATSUM). The march was organised in protest against the demand for inclusion of the state’s Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category, following an April 19 Manipur High Court directive.
Here are the top 10 points on the deteriorating security situation in Manipur:
Violent clashes broke out Wednesday in various parts of Manipur during the course of a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ organised by the ATSUM. The violence first started at Churachandpur district of Manipur. The Solidarity march was called to protest against the longstanding demand for inclusion of the state’s Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category, following an April 19 directive by the Manipur High Court.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, taking note of the violence, said: “precious lives have been lost, besides damage of property of residents, which is very very unfortunate”.
According to officials, the Centre is closely monitoring the situation in the state. The paramilitary forces are being mobilised from nearby states. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, meanwhile, is in talks with the Chief Ministers of neighbouring states, according to news agency PTI.
Retired IPS officer Kuldiep Singh, a former CRPF chief, has been appointed as the security advisor by the Manipur government, news agency PTI reported quoting officials.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Mahendra Rawat, Defence PRO Guwahati, "approximately 4,000 people were given shelter in Army and Assam Rifles Company Operating Bases and state government premises at various places." More than 7,500 civilians have been evacuated through rescue operations.
The Meiteis, the largest community in Manipur, constituting roughly 64.6% of the state’s population, had argued in their plea before the High Court that it was recognised as a tribe before the merger of the princely state of Manipur with the Union of India in 1949, and that it lost its identity as a tribe after the merger.
The demand for ST status arose from the need to “preserve” the community, and “and save the ancestral land, tradition, culture and language” of the Meiteis. In its pleas, the community stated that as a result of being left out of the ST list, “the community has been victimised without any constitutional safeguards to date. The Meitein/Meetei have been gradually marginalised in their ancestral land. Their population which was 59% of the total population of Manipur in 1951 has now been reduced to 44% as per 2011 Census data”.
The High Court directed the government to submit its recommendation after considering the case of the petitioners, “preferably within a period of four weeks” of receipt of the order.
The tribal groups are opposing the HC order, mainly for two reasons. One, the dominance of the Meiteis — both in population and in political representation. Secondly, the Manipuri language of the Meiteis is included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, and that sections of the Meitei community — which is predominantly Hindu — are already classified under Scheduled Castes (SC) or Other Backward Classes (OBC), and have access to the opportunities associated with that status.
After the rally turned violent on Wednesday, the Manipur government imposed a curfew and suspended mobile internet services in the entire state for five days. The Indian Army, Assam Rifles, Central Armed Police Forces and Rapid Action Forces were soon deployed to control the situation on Wednesday night. The Army and Assam Rifles also carried out flag marches in the areas hit by the violence on Thursday.
