Tribal organizations and MLAs in Manipur demand withdrawal of police commandos amid allegations of atrocities
Manipur on Friday alleged that several hundred men, women and children out of fear left their villages in Moreh under Tengnoupal District due to the state Police Commandos’ search operation and “unprofessional conducts, atrocities and inhumane excesses” in the areas, bordering Myanmar.
The MLA and the tribal organisations urged the Union Home Ministry to intervene into the matter immediately and ensure the withdrawal of all the Manipur Police commandos deployed in Moreh and other Kuki-Zomi-Hmar tribal inhabited areas and replace them with neutral central forces.
The ten tribal MLAs and two leading tribal organisations — Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM) and Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF) – alleged that the Manipur Police Commandos launched the search operation in the aftermath of the killing of Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) in Moreh Chingtham Anand Kumar by the suspected militants.
The ten tribal MLAs in a joint statement on Friday said that on Wednesday Sinam Kuki Village in Tengnoupal district was attacked and houses, properties including vehicles were destroyed by the Manipur Police commandos.
“In the operations that is underway at Moreh, the state forces resorted to arson, indiscriminate firing, looting of civilian properties, vehicles, household items, including valuable ornaments, documents, gold, cash and unprovoked brutality forcing common people, including women and children to flee into the nearby jungle.
Several women have been mercilessly assaulted and molested by the commandos and admitted in the local hospital,” the legislators claimed.
Hundreds of women, young boys and girls along with kids took shelter in front of the Assam Rifles camp in Moreh, a border town along Myanmar and 110 km south of
