News

Clash in Manipur leaves cop, journalist injured as displaced Meitei residents seek to return home

GUWAHATI: A journalist and a policeman were injured in Manipur on Saturday when internally displaced persons (IDPs), seeking to return to their original homes, clashed with security personnel. The journalist, P Bobo, who works with a local news channel, and the policeman sustained minor injuries. Their condition was stated to be stable. The trouble broke out when police and central forces prevented hundreds of IDPs from the Sawombung Relief Camp in Imphal from returning to their homes in the Gwaltabi area of Imphal East district, bordering Kangpokpi district. During a brief confrontation with security personnel, the IDPs questioned why their resettlement was still delayed if normalcy had truly returned to Manipur, as the state administration held the Sangai Festival. Citing their prolonged, cluttered existence in relief camps, they demanded that they be immediately allowed to return to their abandoned homes. When they sought to march forward, it led to a security situation. The personnel restored normalcy by firing mock bombs and tear gas shells. After this action from the personnel, the IDPs staged a sit-in protest and refused to leave the site. The standoff continued when reports last came in. Last week, hundreds of IDPs, lodged at a relief camp in Bishnupur district, attempted to march towards Churachandpur district. Security forces dispersed them by firing tear gas. The attempts by IDPs from the Meitei community to return to their original homes in or near Kuki areas started after the administration in the state, where Presidents Rule has remained in force since February this year, took a decision to hold the Sangai Festival. They argue that the holding of the festival indicates the return of peace and normalcy in the state. The ethnic violence in Manipur had earlier left over 260 people dead and around 60,000 others displaced. A few thousand of them have been resettled in prefabricated structures, while the others continue to live in the relief camps.