Manipur: Top tribal body calls for 12-hour shutdown after five Kuki-Zos arrested
The Kuki Inpi Manipur said that three men arrested on Tuesday from the Kangpokpi district were village volunteers.
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Five Kuki-Zo individuals were arrested by security forces in Manipur between Monday and Tuesday, with the police alleging that three of them were members of an underground outfit.
Following this, the Kuki Inpi Manipur, an apex body of Kuki tribes in Manipur, called for a 12-hour shutdown across all tribal-dominated districts on Wednesday.
On Monday, security forces arrested two persons named Lunjakap Guite and Kaplal Singson from Phaitol village in Tamenglong district.
In the early hours of Tuesday, a joint team of the Manipur Police and the Central Reserve Police Force arrested three more persons from the L Hengjol village in the Kangpokpi district. The three persons – Thangjoel Haokip, Jangjoulen Khongsai and Jangminlun Singson – were later handed over to the National Investigation Agency.
The police alleged that the three were “armed cadres of an underground outfit” who were “involved in various criminal incidents of the recent past”. The police, however, did not name the alleged underground outfit.
The Kuki Inpi Manipur, on its part, said that the three arrested men were village volunteers. The term “village volunteers” has been used for armed civilians guarding villages since an ethnic conflict broke out between the state’s Kuki and Meitei communities in May last year.
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