Net curbs extended to 7 Manipur districts as protests intensify

The N Biren Singh government , already under the pump, responded by instituting an inquiry by a two-member team headed by IGP (intelligence) K Kabib and ordering the immediate suspension of SSP (combat) Nectar Sanjenbam, the retired Army Colonel and Kirti Chakra winner.

Sanjenbam was previously attached to the Army's 21 Para (Special Forces) and led India's 2015 cross-border strike on insurgents in Myanmar. He was inducted into Manipur Police in Aug 2023 by a cabinet decision to bolster state forces amid escalating ethnic violence that claimed scores of lives over the previous two months. His brief was to oversee operations by police commandos.

As protests over the police firing in Jiribam mounted, the state government extended the internet and mobile data blackout in seven districts of Imphal East, Imphal West, Bishnupur, Thoubal, Kakching, Kangpokpi and Churachandpur by two more days. Indefinite curfew, clamped Saturday after arson and vandalism targeting MLAs' homes across the valley districts, remained in force.

Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), a forum of Meitei civil organisations, defied the curfew and locked the entrances to several central govt offices in Imphal West. The group, chanting slogans and demanding justice to the Meitei women and children whose bodies were found in the Barak river in Jiribam's Jirighat last week, entered the office of the chief electoral officer at Lamphelpat and secured its entrance with chains and locks.

COCOMI members also locked the gates to the Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development at Takyel, the directorate of economics and statistics, and GST Bhawan.