Vital National Highway in Manipur under blockade again

Imphal, July 17

Sixteen days after the lifting of the blockade on the Imphal-Dimapur National Highway (NH-2), the lifeline of Manipur, two tribal organisations reimposed the blockade on Monday to protest against the attacks, torching of houses, and killing of tribals.

The Committee on Tribal Unity Sadar Hills (CTUSH), Kangpokpi announced a 72-hour total blockade in protest against the attacks, torching of houses, and killing of Kuki-Zo people while United Naga Council (UNC) has announced a 12-hour “total shutdown in all the Naga areas in Manipur” from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday to protest the killing of a Naga woman in Imphal on Saturday night.

A police official in Imphal said that vehicular movement has been closed since early Monday morning.

Normal life was cripped in all the Naga-dominated areas in northern Manipur following the shutdown called by the UNC.

After 54 days, movement of vehicles carrying essentials resumed along the NH-2 as the economic blockade, imposed by various organisations in the wake of the ethnic violence in Manipur, was lifted on July 2.

CTUSH General Secretary Lamminlun Singsit said that on Saturday in the Sekmai area, mobs led by the Meira Paibi organisation torched three trucks of cooking gas service.

Despite the lifting of the highway blockade by the United People's Front (UPF) and the Kuki National Organisation (KNO), the valley people led by the Meira Paibi blocked all routes connecting the Kuki-Zo people settlements from Imphal, and no essential commodities were allowed to transport into Kuki-Zo inhabited areas, Singsit said.

Another tribal organisation, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLE) condemning the killing of a middle-aged woman on Saturday night, said that gunning down of Lucy Marim showed that the state government still has no control over law and order even in Manipur's capital city.

“The middle-aged woman of Maring Naga community who has been suffering from schizophrenia was killed at her residence on Saturday and her face left disfigured by her assailants, who suspected her of being a Kuki-Zo tribal. On July 6, a mentally challenged Kuki-Zo woman was shot dead at point-blank range by Meitei gunmen in Imphal. How radicals from the Meitei community in Manipur can continue killing innocent women just because of their ethnicity. The ongoing conflict should be sufficient indicators for the Central government to know that it is impossible for tribals to continue living together with the majority community. Total separation is the only solution,” ITLF spokesman Ginza Vualzong said in a statement.