The Manipur government has banned internet services for 5 days in view of the deteriorating law and order situation in the state. The government has expressed apprehension that some anti-social elements may use social media to spread hate messages and pictures, which may further deteriorate the law and order situation. The state government has also issued an order to close all schools and colleges.
An order issued by the Home Department on Tuesday said that public peace and community harmony may be threatened due to inflammatory content and false rumours spread through social media and messaging services. In view of this situation, internet and mobile data services have been ordered to be shut down from 3 pm on September 10 to 3 pm on September 15 to prevent the activities of anti-social elements and maintain peace. This order will be applicable except for those cases for which the state government has given exemption.
Schools and colleges in Manipur closed till Thursday
The Manipur government has ordered all colleges and schools in the state to remain closed till Thursday. The Higher and Technical Education Department issued an order on Tuesday, stating that colleges and schools will remain closed due to student agitation and demands from the government to take action against outside invaders.
Under the government order of September 8, all government and private colleges have been declared closed from Wednesday to Thursday. On the same day, the Education Department (Schools) also extended the closure period of schools till Thursday. Schools were closed from Saturday in view of the increasing violence.
2 thousand CRPF jawans will be deployed
The Centre has directed deployment of two new battalions of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), comprising around 2,000 jawans, for security duties in ethnic strife-hit Manipur, official sources said on Tuesday. Sources told PTI that Battalion number-58 is being sent from Warangal (Telangana) while Battalion number-112 is being sent from Latehar (Jharkhand). They said one battalion will be deployed in Kangwai (Churachandpur) in Manipur while the other battalion will be deployed around Imphal.
Sources said the move comes after two Assam Rifles battalions were withdrawn from Manipur for deployment in Jammu and Kashmir and some other parts of the Northeast. The Home Ministry has directed that all the companies (about 6 each) of these two new battalions will be deployed in different parts of the violence-hit state, where ethnic clashes have been going on since May last year, claiming more than 200 lives. A CRPF battalion has about 1,000 personnel. The force has three main responsibilities, including counter-insurgency in the Northeast, anti-Naxal operations and anti-terrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir.
Sources said that 16 battalions of the force are already deployed in Manipur after last year’s violence. Before the violence broke out, there were about 10-11 battalions of the force in Manipur. A top security official told PTI-Bhasha, “The CRPF will have a major role in Manipur. New battalions of the force were sent to the state after violence broke out between the Meitei and Kuki people in May last year and now the force is being strengthened so that the decision-making process can be improved.” Meanwhile, a joint team of CRPF and Border Security Force (BSF) officials and some independent technical experts will visit Manipur later this week. This team will do an “analytical study” of the drones and rockets used in attacks in some areas of the state in the last few days.