The embattled Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh had a schedule to visit the trouble-torn district of Jiribam on June 11 and he had supposedly sent instructions from New Delhi to make preparations for the visit as usual. Whenever the Chief Minister is scheduled to visit an outlying district by chopper, sending an advance security detail a day ahead or hours ahead of the CM’s arrival was a practice. The CM’s security is handled by CISF assisted by a VIP security team with specially trained members drawn from various state force units.
As fresh violence unfolded in Jiribam district which borders the neighbouring state of Assam following the death of a Meitei farmer besides arson and attacks by militants, the whole valley suddenly became restive. Jiribam district was the last surviving bastion of Manipur integrity and it was a cosmopolitan town like Moreh in the eastern border. It has been known for quite some time that Jiribam would be the next target after Moreh. The recent move by Kuki-Zo militants in Jiribam district completes the strategy and conspiracy of bringing Manipur to heel.
The repeated assurances of maintaining Manipur’s territorial integrity by central leaders, including Amit Shah, is meaningless when these two important gateways fall into the hands of a community, whose leaders constantly swear by a separate administrative set-up. The southern districts of Churachandpur and Pherzwal are already gone. Moreh is a besieged border town. Meiteis were among the first settlers of the two border outposts of Moreh and Jiribam, as there were frequent interactions between Manipur and Cachar in the west and with the Burmese in the east. In fact, these two border outposts served as the gateway to Manipur.
The Chief Minister and a few ministers and MLAs besides state BJP leaders were camping in New Delhi to witness the extravaganza of oath-taking ceremony of Narendra Modi’s third term as Prime Minister. Pity, they could not even freely join in the merriment of a BJP led government coming back to power at the centre, never mind the win by Congress candidates in both the Manipur parliamentary constituencies. And, they were simply caught off-guard by the Jiribam incident on June 6. As to whether they seem really concerned with the fresh violence is sadly reflected in a viral photo of Manipur ministers and MLAs besides some party leaders relaxing in the lawns of Rashtrapati Bhavan.
On the other hand, the Chief Minister N Biren Singh conferred with state Governor Anusuiya Uikey regarding the violence as they both of them happen to be in New Delhi. From New Delhi, instructions were sent and a new Superintendent of Police (SP) and OC of Jiribam PS was sent along with reinforcement of state police commandos. Meanwhile, intelligence despatches warning about the movement of heavily armed Kuki militants towards Jiribam came out in the newspapers leading to demands for recall of the Security Advisor and DGP for not heeding or taking appropriate action from some of the CSOs.
Coming back to the issue, CM Biren Singh had to repeatedly postpone his visit to Jiribam despite sending an advance security detail and reinforcements besides CAPFD Minister L Sushildro. Finally, the advance security team returned to Imphal on Saturday. Now, questions had been raised as to why he had to cancel his Jiribam visit? Is it because of intelligence inputs on the uncertainty of his safety or because he thought he could manage things easily from Imphal HQs? In between, someone recalled his frequent rants on former CM Okram Ibobi Singh not being able to land his helicopter in Ukhrul. Some social media posts began questioning as to why his helicopter failed to take off?
