Imphal: In the wake of Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla’s appeal, the return of looted arms and ammunition continued in the state with 16 sophisticated weapons and a large cache of ammunition being returned at Tuibong village in the state’s tribal-dominated Churachandpur district on Saturday, officials said.
A defence spokesman said that after the Governor’s appeal, the Assam Rifles, along with the Manipur Police, the CRPF, state intelligence agencies, and civil administration, engaged with local Kuki-Zo community leaders and addressed their security concerns, provided assurances of safety, and emphasised the positive impact of the region’s de-weaponization.
“The engagement proved fruitful as the community leaders volunteered to surrender a huge quantity of arms and ammunition as a stepping stone in the peace process which has been the Central governments’ stance from the beginning,” he said.
The spokesman said that they voluntarily surrendered looted and illegal weapons and ammunition including an M-16 rifle, a 7.62 mm SLR, two AK series rifles, three INSAS rifles, two M-79 40mm Under Barrel Grenade Launcher (UBGL), a 9mm Carbine Machine Gun, a 51 mm mortar, three .303 rifles, and two single-barrel rifles. Among the ammunition returned were 64 gelatine sticks, 10 rounds of 60 mm pumpi (improvised mortar) ammunition, 17 rounds of AK ammunition, 40 rounds of 5.56 mm rifle ammunition, and three rounds of 9 mm ammunition.
Top Assam Rifles, CRPF, civil administration, police and state intelligence agencies officials were present in the arms return ceremony in Churachandpur district.
The defence spokesman said that allround efforts were meticulously undertaken by joint Central and state forces and they would motivate other groups to return arms and ammunition as well to further take forward the peace process. The joint forces would inspire youths to surrender arms and work towards a better future for the overall development of the region thereby enabling the peace process to bring a halt to the ongoing conflict, he said.
Governor Bhalla on Thursday appealed to members of all communities to surrender arms looted from police armouries as well as illegally held arms within seven days. He said if the weapons were not surrendered, strict action would follow for possession of arms.
Various reports suggested that during the ethnic riots between Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities since May 3, 2023, more than 6,000 different types of sophisticated arms and lakhs of pieces of different types of ammunition were looted from the police stations and police outposts by the mobs and militants. The security forces, so far, have recovered a substantial number of the looted arms. The Army, Assam Rifles, various Central Armed Police Forces, and the Manipur Police regularly conduct search operations in various districts to recover the looted arms and ammunition.
Former Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, the state Home Department, and other authorities have earlier on several occasions urged the people to deposit the looted arms and ammunition, but the response was very poor.
(IANS)
