IMPHAL, India: Weapon recovery in violence-hit Manipur has not seen any improvement in the previous week, raising the suspicion that ammunition — that may be in lakhs — may have been distributed among various groups, making it near to impossible to trace.
The central agencies believe that the weapons have gone in the hands of warring groups. The forces deployed in violence-hit Manipur state are having a tough time maintaining law and order over there as they have been unable to operate in the best way, especially in tense areas.
Top sources said while the situation is not deteriorating further, forces, however, are getting trapped while carrying out operations. Also, more than 70 percent weapons are still missing and chances of recovering them are diminishing with each passing day.
“There are only two ways of recovering missing or looted weapons — one is either the public returns them or forces recover them by conducting operations. Every day, we are recovering weapons but the number is in single digits. Close to 1,100 weapons were recovered till last week. It peaked when Home Minister Amit Shah appealed to return the weapons,” a top Manipur government official told News18 on the condition of anonymity.
On the other hand, the security forces are facing clash-like situations when conducting operation as locals are resisting arrests and recoveries.
When News18 spoke to different forces, including Army, CRPF and Assam Rifles, all claimed that recoveries and detention were tough as they faced mobs of 500-2,000 people and sometimes even more.
In a recent operation conducted by the Indian Army in Manipur’s capital Imphal, 12 KYKL cadres were apprehended with weapons and ammunition.
“Acting on specific intelligence, operation was launched in Village Itham (06 km East of Andro) in Imphal East by Security Forces. Specific search after laying cordon was undertaken to avoid hardships to other locals in the area. In the ensuing operation, 12 KYKL cadres were apprehended alongwith arms, ammunition and War like stores,” the Army said.
It added: “A mob of approximately 1,200-1,500 led by women and the local leader immediately surrounded the target area and prevented security forces from going ahead with the operation. Repeated appeals to the aggressive mob to let the security forces carry on with operation as per law did not yield any positive result. Keeping in view the sensitivity of use of kinetic force against large irate mob led by women and likely casualties due to such action, considered decision was taken to hand over all 12 cadres to local leader. Own columns lifted the cordon and left the area with weapons and war-like stores recovered from insurgents.”
