Manipur CM seeks police report on violence in Jiribam
The HinduAs homes and police posts were torched and hundreds displaced in Manipur’s Jiribam district over the past few days, Chief Minister N. Biren Singh sought a report from the State police regarding security measures taken to contain the violence. The Chief Minister’s office had written three letters on January 15, January 27, and January 31 to the Director General of Police and the Manipur security adviser, apprising them about the movement of “200 armed Kuki-Zo militants” in areas bordering Jiribam. A State government source said that this week’s violence erupted in the district, which borders Assam, despite the CMO informing the police about the possibility of an attack almost six months ago. ‘Engineered violence’ A police source said that Jiribam has an adequate security presence, noting that the area did not witness any major incident since violence erupted in other parts of the State. Another police source said that the area, with a diverse population of Kuki-Zo, Meitei, and Naga people, was low on the violence radar, adding that the recent disturbances appeared to be “motivated and engineered.” “The number of security personnel in Jiribam is commensurate with the security audit.