Guwahati, May 5 (). Native residents of Manipur, including a large number of students, staged a protest in Guwahati on Friday in the wake of incidents of violence in the state over the past few days.
The protesters said that unauthenticated information was being spread which was creating confusion. We are very concerned about the situation there, said a student. As internet services have been suspended in many parts of Manipur, misinformation is being circulated in social media which is creating panic among us who are away from home.
The protesters demanded that the government should ensure that peace is restored in Manipur at the earliest. Meanwhile, a section of protesters alleged that the Manipur government’s intention to implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state was behind the outbreak of violence.
A protester said: The issue is not to give ST status to the Meitei community. NRC is the root cause of the recent conflict. Notably, a decade-old rift between the hill tribes and the Meitei community has again come to the fore after the High Court directive to grant Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the non-tribal Meitei community in Manipur.
A protest march organized by the All Tribal Students’ Union Manipur (ATSUM) turned violent in the border areas of Bishnupur and Churachandpur districts when the protesters clashed with a group of locals. As per reports, after the clashes, some unidentified miscreants torched houses of a particular group. After that unrest spread in many places including the state capital Imphal.
KC/ANM
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