IMPHAL, Oct 12: The Manipur Government has been urged to deploy three companies of State forces to strengthen the border in Kamjong district following fresh reports of violence in which several persons were killed and more than a dozen houses burnt.
Phungyar MLA Leishiyo Keishing who hails from Kamjong district, has written a letter to State Home Minister Govindas Konthoujamin in this regard. He said that one company of the India Reserve Battalion was dispatched from the police headquarters after he wrote to the Chief Minister last month for deployment of three companies of State forces. However, violence occurred at Kamjong-Chassad on Friday evening before the deployment of the personnel on the ground.
According to the MLA, armed militants opened fire when security personnel had gone to sanitise the Chassad cemetery after receiving inputs about “suspicious movement”.
A house belonging to a Tangkhul man was allegedly burnt down. The firing and arson intensified again on October 10 with 23 houses reportedly torched. Of these, 12 belonged to the Tangkhul community and 11 to the Kukis.
Two persons identified as Domkhonei Touthang and Michael Haokip, were also killed during the exchange of fire at Chassad, the letter said.
Subsequently, armed militants from across the border attacked Ningchou village, located around 15 km from the Kamjong district headquarters, in which two persons – Ngachanso Ningshen and Leishisan Leishadang – were killed.
Stating that “such incidents have been reported frequently in the border area”, Keishing requested the Home Minister “to deploy adequate security to protect lives and properties of the public”.
Five districts of Manipur – Churachandpur, Chandel, Kamjong, Tengnoupal and Ukhrul – share a 398-km border with Myanmar. Kamjong district alone shares 109 km of its border with the neighbouring country.