After clashes, Manipur says ‘shoot at sight’

The BJP government in Manipur on Thursday issued lsquoshoot at sightrsquo order in ldquoextreme casesrdquo to contain spiralling violence in the state between tribals and the majority Meitei community which has displaced over 9000 people from their villagesEarlier in the day Chief Minister N Biren Singh said the violence was the result of ldquomisunderstandingrdquo in the society ldquoPrecious lives have been lostrdquo he added But the details of the deaths were not availableFiftyfive columns of the Army and Assam Rifles had to be deployed to contain rioting The Centre also dispatched Rapid Action Force teamsRajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal took a swipe at Narendra Modi saying the PM calls the Congress ldquoenemy of peacerdquo while Manipur ldquoburnsrdquoSibal tweeted ldquoPM in Karnataka Calls Congress lsquoEnemy of peacersquo While Manipur burns tribals targeted churches burnt students terrorisedrdquo Citing National Crime Records Bureau data Sibal claimed there were 5415 communal riots between 2014 and 2015 ldquoIn Uttar Pradesh alone 10900 police encounters love jihad unchecked lsquoDharam sansadsrsquo BJP messiah of peacerdquo the former Congress leader saidAlso Read Manipur violence BJPs politics of hate behind it says CongressMeanwhile Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge appealed to the people of Manipur to exercise restraint and let peace prevail while blaming the BJP for the violence ldquoBJP has created fissures among communities and destroyed the peace of a beautiful state BJPrsquos politics of hate division and its greed for power is responsible for this messrdquo he said ldquoThe PM must focus on restoring peace and normalcy I urge the people of Manipur to stay calmrdquo Rahul Gandhi tweetedWhat happened in ManipurA lsquoTribal Solidarity Marchrsquo was organised by the All Tribal Student Union Manipur in 10 hill districts of the state on Wednesday to protest the demand of nontribal Meiteis who account for 53 per cent of the statersquos population for Scheduled Tribe ST status The march was organised by tribals who account for about 40 per cent of the statersquos population after the Manipur High Court asked the state government last month to send a recommendation to the Centre within four weeks on the demand for ST status by the Metei community During the march in Torbung area of Churachandpur district an armed mob allegedly attacked people of the Meitei community leading to retaliatory attacks which escalated the violence throughout the state according to police Many shops and houses were vandalised and gutted in arson they saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever