Guwahati
Even as the Supreme Court is seized of the Manipur violence and has sought the latest status report from the Centre and the State governments comes the news of another armoury of the forces having been looted by a mob of hundreds and notably, led by women of the majority Meitei community.
More than 19,000 rounds of bullets of different calibres, an AK series assault rifle, three ‘Ghaatak’ rifles, 195 self-loading rifles, five MP-5 guns, 16 9mm pistols, 25 bulletproof jackets, 21 carbines, 124 hand grenades among others were looted by the mob, officials said.
The incident took place at the battalion headquarters of the 2nd India Reserve Battalion (IRB) located at Naranseina in Bishnupur district.
A complaint filed by police stated: “Large number of armed miscreants and individuals who came by some 40/45 light vehicles and on foot numbering around 500 overpowered the sentry of main gate and quarter guard. They broke two of the doors of battalion armed kote (armoury) and looted large numbers of arms, ammunition, munitions and other accessories.”
Police said 327 rounds of ammunition and 20 tears smoke shell were fired to control the mob.
The crowd had gathered to march towards Churachandpur where tribals were planning to carry out a mass burial of 35 Kuki-Zo people killed in ethnic clashes that broke out in the state on May 3, they said. The burial was deferred by a week following the Manipur High Court’s order for status quo at the burial site.
The mass burial programme by the tribals had sparked fresh tension in the strife-torn state with the majority community opposing the move.
The majority community had also attempted to loot two other armouries located in the State capital but the attempts were foiled. Since the beginning of the ethnic violence between the Kuki and Meitei community, more than 4,000 weapons and lakhs of ammunition have been looted from police stations and armouries, out of which a little over 1,600 weapons have been recovered.
Instances of women leading and shielding the mobs have been constantly pouring in from the troubled State.
The Army too had recently maintained “women activists in Manipur are deliberately blocking routes and interfering in Operations of Security Forces” and even helping the rioters escape. It had also released a video of such instances.
It had done so a couple of days after a mob of around 1500 women in Imphal East’s Itham village forced the security personnel to let go of 12 Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) militants holed up there.
