Indigenous Tribal Leader’s Forum (ITLF) has expressed serious concern over the loopholes that allow constant looting of the weapons issued by the government.
On Thursday, a Meitei mob allegedly looted the government-issued about 300 lethal weapons and 19000 rounds of ammunition. These include assault rifles, pistols, magazines, mortars, detonators, hand grenades, bombs, carbines and light machine guns.
The ITLF claimed that the government issued weaponry was looted from the Indian Reserve Battalion Camp in Bishnupur by Meitei mob this Thursday.
ITLF further said in a release today: “According to a complaint filed by police, looted weapons included assault rifles, pistols, magazines, mortars, detonators, hand grenades, bombs, carbines and light machine guns.”
Speaking to The Statesman, media spokesperson of ITLF Ginzo Vualzong said: “How this is possible. The constant looting of arms is a matter of concern for every citizen, and not only for us. If the security forces cannot save themselves, then public safety is a very big concern.”
He further added: “The number of guns, ammunition and explosives that are in the hands of the Meitei community are also a security risk for the country as a whole. If the Central government and the security forces do not take cognizance of the risk posed by the circulation of such huge quantities of arms and act to retrieve the weapons, we are afraid that Manipur could witness a bloodbath, the kind of which the country has not seen in decades.”
Questioning the constant looting, the ITLF raised the issue of security saying what are the security measures that have been taken to check on such looting of government issued weapons.
“We want to know why security forces are still unable to safeguard the government issued weapons three months into the ethnic conflict in Manipur,” asked Vualzong.
It may be recalled that there is an age-old conflict between the Kuki and Meitei communities in the region. Meitei is the Hindu group that has maximum representation in the assembly. The Meitei community’s support allowed the Bharatiya Janata Party to form a government. Kuki follows Christianity. The Kukis live in the hills of Manipur while Meitei communities live in the plains of the region.
The Meitei community wants to be included in the scheduled tribe category while the Kuki community of Manipur has been in the scheduled tribe category since 1950. This difference is becoming wider by the day. And this has been the bone of contention and turned the situation volatile.
The ITLF said that more than 4000 weapons and lakhs of ammunition were looted from different police stations and armouries by Meitei mobs in Imphal and the surrounding valley in May. The ITLF also claimed, giving the reference of media reports that most weapons were handed over to the mob of the same communities by the policemen.
It is clear as daylight that the majority community is massing arms to launch an attack on Kuki-zo-tribals, the release said.