MANIPUR STATE

Indian army steps in to quell violence

REUTERS, Guwahati

Soldiers of the Indian Army held flag marches and evacuated thousands of civilians amid a dawn-to-dusk curfew to quell violence between tribal and non-tribal groups in the remote northeastern state of Manipur, officials said yesterday.

Violence initially broke out during a protest march yesterday by thousands of tribal people opposing a demand by a non-tribal group for the constitutionally defined status of a scheduled tribe.

Indian army sources said troops and the paramilitary Assam Rifles evacuated more than 7,500 people of different communities through Wednesday night and yesterday, sheltering them in the troops’ camps and government premises.

“We are working on a war footing with army and paramilitary troopers deployed in strength to defuse any kind of communal clashes...,” a senior police officer told Reuters from the state capital of Imphal.

Mobile internet services have been suspended for five days statewide, amid incidents of fighting among young men and volunteers of different communities.

In a social media post, N. Biren Singh, the chief minister of Manipur, pleaded with joined hands for people to maintain peace and harmony.