Manipur: Over 300 more looted arms, large amount of ammunition surrendered ahead of deadline (Lead)

Imphal, Feb 27 (IANS) On the final day of the Manipur government’s deadline for returning looted arms and ammunition, several organisations including the Arambai Tengol and individuals on Thursday surrendered 307 looted arms and a large cache of ammunition to the security forces in the state, officials said.

A senior police official said that in response to Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla’s appeal for the surrender of looted and illegally held weapons, a total of 307 arms, mostly sophisticated firearms, and a large cache of varied ammunition were deposited in both valley and hills districts.

Various groups including the radical Meitei group Arambai Tengol and youth volunteers, community leaders, civil society organisations (CSOs) and women organisations, have played a significant role in returning the looted and illegally-held weapons and ammunition.

Of the total of 307 arms, 246 weapons were surrendered by the Arambai Tengol cadres at the First Manipur Rifle Campus in Imphal while 61 more arms were surrendered at other places in both hills and valley districts.

“Such voluntary surrender of weapons would significantly help in restoring peace, communal harmony and lawfulness in the state of Manipur,” the official said.

With Thursday’s surrender of arms, over 610 looted and illegally held weapons including many sophisticated arms and a huge cache of varied ammunition have been returned to various security forces since the Governor made the appeal on February 20.

The Governor earlier said that if the people did not return the looted and illegally held arms and ammunition within seven days, then strict legal action would be taken.

The police official said that as the seven-day period granted for voluntary surrender is set to conclude on Thursday, all individuals concerned, especially the youths, are seriously requested to come forward and surrender any looted or illegally held arms to the nearest police station and security posts or any camps.

“Community leaders, CSOs and women organisations are requested to continue to facilitate the surrender of such weapons,” he said.

The official said that during this period, no punitive action would be taken against the individuals who voluntarily surrendered weapons.

“However, any person found in possession of illegal or looted arms after the deadline would face appropriate legal action as per the law.”

The police official said that this is a last and crucial opportunity “for everyone to contribute to peace, communal harmony, safeguarding the future of our youths and security of our society”.

“We again request all those still in possession of such weapons to avail themselves of this final chance to surrender them without any fear of prosecution within the given period. Together, let us work towards a safer and more secure future for Manipur. Together we can,” the official said.

A delegation of Arambai Tenggol on February 25 met the Governor and submitted a 9-point demand to resolve the ongoing ethnic conflict in the state. It demanded the introduction of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) with 1951 as the base year, deportation of illegal immigrants, abrogation of the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement with militant groups, destruction of poppy plantations and reinstating the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status of the Meitei (Meetei) community. They also demanded the withdrawal of ST status from Illegal immigrants, and no arrest or legal action against village volunteers including of the Arambai Tenggol by any commission, tribunal, Court or authority and agency.

On the other hand, a coordinating committee of the Kuki-Zo Community village volunteers on Wednesday urged the Central government to take immediate steps to restore peace, security, and normalcy for the tribals and the state of Manipur as well and expressed willingness to lay down arms if their four-point demands are met. Their demands include a separate administration (Union Territory with legislative powers) for Kuki-Zo tribal-inhabited areas, the withdrawal of Manipur Police from Kuki-Zo inhabited areas, total surrender of looted arms by Meitei groups, and legal protection for Kuki-Zo village volunteers.

According to various reports 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 outposts by the mobs and militants. The security forces, so far, have recovered a substantial number of the looted arms.

–IANS

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