After All Tribal Student Union Manipur (ATSUM) called a “Tribal Solidarity March” on Wednesday to protest and oppose the demand of non-tribal Meiteis for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, violence broke out between the tribals and non-tribals in Torbung area of Churachandpur district as thousands of agitators took part in the rally. Since then the incidents of violence has been reported from various parts of the state. ATSUM had called the solidarity march in all the districts of Manipur to oppose move for the inclusion of majority Meitei community in the ST category which the lawmakers of the northeastern state had openly endorsed.
The Army and Assam Rifles were deployed to control the situation in Manipur where violence broke out during a tribal agitation and 7,500 people were rescued by the forces from the violent-hit areas, reported PTI, quoting Defence spokesperson on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Manipur CM N Biren Singh appealed his people to “cooperate with the Government in maintaining peace and harmony” by releasing a video message through his social media handles as media reports suggested that the government had suspended mobile internet services in the state for five days.
Inputs: PTI, TOI
