GUWAHATI: Kuki-Zo organisations in strife-torn Manipur registered a protest on Monday against the arrest of five tribals by central agencies and demanded their release within 48 hours.
Normal life came to a grinding halt in the Kuki-majority hill district of Churachandpur during an indefinite shutdown which was called by some tribal organisations. All shops and business establishments remained shut while vehicles were off the road.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had arrested four tribals, including two women, from Henglep in Churachandpur on Monday by intercepting a Bolero. The arrests were made in connection with the abduction and killing of two Meitei students.
Two minor girls – daughters of one of the arrested women and travelling in the vehicle – were also taken into custody. After the six persons were flown out of Manipur to Guwahati in Assam by the evening, the two children were handed over to the District Child Protection Officer, Kamrup Metro district in Guwahati for their care.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had also arrested another tribal in a case related to a transnational conspiracy by insurgent groups based in Myanmar and Bangladesh to wage a war against India by exploiting the unrest in Manipur.
The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) and the Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU) condemned the “selective haste” of the central agencies in arresting the persons.
“If the CBI can act with such swiftness, why has it not arrested anyone in more heinous cases, like the rape and murder of two tribal girls in Imphal, burning of a 7-year-old tribal boy along with his mother and aunt, torture and beheading of a tribal youth, and so many other acts of atrocities against tribals?” the ITLF asked.
The CoTU condemned the CBI and the NIA for their alleged attempt to bring “one-sided” justice. The tribal organisation said it was “compelled to impose an emergency shutdown” on National Highway 37 – the lifeline of Manipur – till the authorities expedite the safe release of one of the “abducted” persons “Satthang Kipgen”.
Further, the organisation served an “ultimatum” on the home ministry to direct the central agencies to release the arrested persons within 48 hours, initiate a probe against “Meitei criminals” and convict them for “natural justice”.
