The PIB (Defence Wing) on Saturday clarified that there was no argument between the Moirang assembly constituency MLA Th Shanti and personnel AR/Army personnel at the Kwakta blast site on Thursday as reported by a local daily.
A statement issued by the PRO Defence Lt Col Amit Shukla stated that the reason for inconvenience to the MLA may be due to the area being secured to prevent any incident, as per the security protocols.
It said that the MLA happened to visit the incident site, which was not informed to the Army/AR team deployed in the area. The Army/AR team was investigating the matter with Manipur Police, it stated.
It asserted that all military operations in the state of Manipur are being conducted in the utmost professional manner. At 11.30 pm on Wednesday, responding to the request of Bishnupur police to help them recover an engine and parts of a vehicle hit with an IED, for forensic preservation, a team of Assam Rifles was despatched to the blast site to recover the debris.
A recovery vehicle, led by an officer, carried out the task of shifting the debris to Phougakchao Ikhai police station at 1.30 am on June 22. The same day, the AR team conducted the sanitisation of the area suspecting the presence of other IEDs in the area.
“Around 2.30 pm while a bomb disposal team of the Army was conducting a post-blast examination, the MLA of Moirang constituency happened to visit the incident site, which was not informed to the Army/AR team deployed in the area. There was no argument with the soldiers while the MLA visited the site,” it added.
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