Manipur: Total shutdown in Churachandpur in protest against arrests by NIA, CBI

Normal life in Manipur’s Churchandpur district was thrown out of gear on Monday due to an indefinite shutdown called by several Kuki organisations.

The shutdown was called to protest the arrests of five persons from the Kuki-dominated district on Saturday and Sunday by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and (NIA). National Investigation Agency

Terming the arrests as “abduction”, several Kuki organisations announced the total shutdown beginning 10 am on Monday and demanded the release of all the arrested within 48 hours.

On Monday, Kuki groups sealed entry and exit points connecting Churachandpur with neighbouring Meitei-dominated districts like Bishnupur, preventing anyone from entering or leaving.

Government offices and private establishments in the districts remained closed. Streets in the district headquarters wore a deserted look.

On Sunday, the CBI arrested four persons in connection with the alleged kidnapping and subsequent killing of two students, a boy and a girl, both Meiteis from Imphal, who were last seen together on July 6.

The four were immediately flown out of Manipur and brought to Guwahati in Assam. According to CBI, the two minors “who accompanied the arrested accused” were later handed over to a local child protection officials in Guwahati.

Two photos of the missing students, Luwangbi Linthoingambi Hijam (17) and Phijam Hemanjit (20), one showing them in a jungle sitting with two armed persons in the background and another allegedly of their bodies, went viral on social media on September 25, sparking protests in Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley.

Over 100 people were injured in the protests and police action leading the government to shutdown mobile internet services, withdraw curfew relaxations and shutdown schools until September 29.

“We are committed to ensuring maximum punishment, including capital punishment, for the heinous crime they have committed,” Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday after the four were arrested.

Also Read: CBI arrests 4 in connection with abduction and killing of 2 Manipur students

On Saturday, NIA had arrested Seiminlun Gangte, a Kuki, from Churachandpur, accusing him of being part of a “transnational conspiracy” by Myanmar and Bangladesh-based leadership of terror outfits to wage war in India by exploiting the ongoing ethnic unrest in Manipur.

However, Kuki groups have questioned the arrests made by the central agencies and accused them of being selective in investigating cases related to the ethnic clashes between Meitei and tribal Kuki communities since May 3 which have claimed nearly 180 lives and displaced over 50,000.

“If the CBI can work with such swiftness, why has it not arrested anyone in more heinous cases like the rape and murder of two tribal girls in Imphal, the burning of a seven-year-old boy along with his mother and aunt, the torture and beheading of a tribal youth and so many other acts of atrocities against tribals,” Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF), a Churachandpur-based Kuki group, said in a statement issued on Monday.

The ITLF also claimed that Gangte, arrested on Saturday by NIA, is a private teacher based in Kwakta, a border area between Churachandpur and Bishnupur district, and has no criminal record.

Reacting to the arrests, the Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU), a Kuki organisation based in Kangpokpi, another Kuki-dominated district, announced that it will impose “emergency shutdown” of NH37, which connects Manipur capital Imphal to Silchar in Assam, seeking immediate release of those arrested by NIA, CBI and “safe release” of Satthang Kipgen, a resident of the district, allegedly abducted on September 30.

“If there is failure on the part of the union home ministry to heed the voices of fair intervention and there is a lapse of 48 hours, then COTU will impose indefinite shutdown in entire Kangpokpi district,” COTU said in a release issued on Monday.