“Is Govt of India not stopping the 15 month long violence…?” Protests at Delhi Jantar Mantar over Manipur Violence; Attack on minister residence in Manipur, internet suspension extended

A low intensity blast happened at the residence of Khashim Vashum, the trasnsport minister of Manipur, in Ukhrul town, about 80 km from capital Imphal, in the wee hours, early on Sunday morning. Vashum was in Imphal when this explosion happened, no one was injured, confirmed the police.

“No one was injured in this low intensity blast. It didn’t damage the residential complex in the town’s Hamleikhong area. It is a Naga dominated area. No one has claimed responsibility as yet. We are trying to identify the culprits”, said a police officer.

Vashum belongs to the Naga People’s Front, an ally of the BJP N Biren Singh’s government in the state. He hasn’t issued any statement as yet. This was the second attack targeting a political leader in the state after a similar explosion at the residence of former MLA Yamthong Haokip in the Kuki-Zo-majority Kangpokpi district killed his wife on August 10.

At least six people were killed on September 7 in Jiribam district, highest single day casualty in the recent times after fresh violence broke out in the conflict hit state. That attack came a day after an elderly man from Manipur's Moirang town, who was offering prayers, was killed in a rocket-propelled bomb attack. In separate incident, about five people were killed in gunfight on the same day near Moirang.

Manipur has been on the boil since May 2023, killing more than 200 people and displacing over 70,000 people. Following the fresh spate in violence, protests broke out in Imphal. The state government had imposed curfew and internet suspension. The internet suspension has been extended in five districts of the state till September 20.


Protest in Delhi

Meanwhile the Imphal-based Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity and the Delhi Meetei Coordinating Committee on Sunday organised a sit-in protest demonstration at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar area. The protest was also attended by newly elected Congress’s Inner Manipur MP, A. Bimol Akoijam. A memorandum was also submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding immediate intervention “ to safeguard the people of Manipur”, still reeling with the 15 month long conflict.

“We want to ask to the Government of India whether failure to control the violence in the last 15 months is a part of a larger political ploy to deepen divisions among the people to divide Manipur on ethnic line so that Manipur be broken permanently and people of Manipur may live as slaves permanently. Is Government of India not stopping the 15 months long violence so to make people hate each other and fight so much, and then Manipur could be divided?”, the memorandum asked.


The protest demonstration at Jantar Mantar highlighted the recent modus operandi of using aerial bombing targeting the civilians. “If Govt of India remains complicit against the aerial attacks using Drone Bombings and long range rocket missiles by the Chin-Kuki Narco-Terrorists in Manipur, India must withdraw all its forces and leave it to us to determine the fate of those terrorist who attack the civilian forces using military grade weapons”, read the press release from the protest demonstration.​