Day before deadline, a few arms given up in Manipur

New Delhi Less than 300 weapons and around 3,500 pieces of ammunition have been surrendered with just a day left before Manipur governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla’s seven-day amnesty for the voluntary surrender of looted weapons and munitions ends, according to multiple security officials aware of the matter.

The numbers are extremely low given that at least 6,500 weapons and over 600,000 pieces of ammunition, including mortars and grenades, were looted from armouries across the state by civilians and militant groups in both valley and hill areas within months of ethnic violence breaking out in the state in May 2023.

To be sure, the exact count of looted weapons and shells was submitted to the Supreme Court by the state government in a sealed cover.

The forces have till date recovered not more than 1,800 weapons from this lot, the officials cited above said. The state security adviser Kuldiep Singh in September 2024 told reporters that forces had recovered 1,200 looted weapons till that time; the government has not revealed any official numbers since then.

Officials said a bulk of the arms and ammunition -- these include AK series rifles, light machine guns, mortars, grenades, MP5 sub-machine guns, and hundreds of thousands of pieces of ammunitions -- are still in possession of civilian and militant groups.

People from central forces on the ground believe the disarming militants is not only the first step to controlling violence in Manipur, but is also essential at a time when there has been a rise in extortion cases by street criminals who now have access to powerful high-grade weapons.

“It is unclear if the governor is going to extend the period for voluntary surrender of arms. This is because Raj Bhavan held a meeting with a Meitei group (Arambai Tenggol) on Tuesday evening, in which the group reportedly asked for more time and placed conditions for surrendering the weapons. The Raj Bhavan is yet to issue a statement on the meeting or the Meitei’s group request to extend the period for surrender of weapons,” said a senior security force who asked not to be named.

The officer added that it was likely that Bhalla and security adviser Kuldiep Singh would hold a review meeting with all forces for the further course of action.

At least 250 people died, and 60,000 were rendered homeless in the ethnic clashes between Kuki-Zo and Meitei groups that started on May 4, 2023. Mobs from both communities have looted police armouries multiple times. The most recent incident was on February 9 when mobs looted at least 9 guns and ammunition in the state’s Thoubal district. People from the two groups still live have retreated to their respective strongholds- the Meiteis in the valley and Kuki-Zo groups in the hill districts.  More than 21 months after the clashes started, normalcy is yet to be restored.

On February 13, President’s Rule was imposed in the state, days after chief minister Biren Singh resigned following a rebellion by some party MLAs who were against Singh holding command of the state. A month before Singh’s resignation, the Centre had appointed former home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla as the governor. Bhalla has reportedly started working from the Manipur secretariat three days a week and is meeting different groups from all communities as part of his efforts to restore normalcy.

In his first official order after the state was put under President’s Rule, governer Bhalla on February 20 appealed to the people of all communities in the state “to voluntarily come forward and surrender looted and illegally held weapons and ammunition” to the nearest police stations or security camps within seven days.

“I want to assure you that no punitive action would be initiated if such weapons are returned within the stipulated time. Thereafter, strict action will be taken for possession of such weapons,” he added in a statement issued by Raj Bhavan at the time.

Over the past week, the Manipur Police and paramilitary forces were handed some weapons under the amnesty scheme in different parts of the state. On February 25, a total of 87 different types of weapons and ammunition were surrendered in both the hill (where Kuki-Zo tribals live), and valley districts (where Meiteis live). Among the surrendered weapons was an Under Barrel Grenade Launcher Gun (UBGL). Some powerful weapons such as AK rifles, sub-machine Guns, carbine machine guns, were surrendered, along with hand grenades and mortars. Some countrymade weapons -- these were not looted from armouries -- were also returned.

Manipur police in a statement on Wednesday evening said that during the day a total of 104 different types of weapons and ammunition were surrendered at different places in hill and valley districts. This is the highest recovery of surrendered weapons after Tuesday. 

But the numbers are still extremely low, officers rued. “The surrender rate is so slow because of the mistrust between ethnic groups in the state. Interestingly, people have also surrendered countrymade pistols, Pumpi guns (country made mortars), countrymade rockets and Chinese Grenades which were not stolen from police armouries. This means there is a section that stocked these non-looted weapons but has now surrendered them out of fear of action after the seven-day window -- or maybe they’re willing to now give peace a chance. By and large, however, both sides appear to be on wait-and-watch mode,” a second security officer said.

Officials in the Manipur Police said that people also surrendered at least 235 bulletproof jackets, 11 uniforms, 90 bulletproof helmets, and nine pairs of military boots. The surrendered items also include at least eight improvised explosive devices (IEDs).