Manipur has intensified combing operations along its Myanmar border after Assam Rifles personnel foiled an alleged infiltration bid, while security forces face manpower constraints that prevent them from covering every location across the state, Home Minister Govindas Konthoujam said.
The operations followed intelligence about three armed individuals crossing into Manipur. Assam Rifles apprehended a 48-year-old Myanmar national on Saturday and seized three AK-47 rifles, 172 rounds of ammunition and three grenades, including one identified as a Chinese grenade, according to the report. Two other suspected infiltrators escaped towards Myanmar.
Konthoujam said all border areas had been sealed and that combing operations were continuing after fresh intelligence inputs. He did not disclose the specific locations where the operations were being conducted. The minister said security forces were patrolling the areas day and night but could not cover the entire state because of limited manpower.
“We are all human beings. There should be at least some humanity among us. Our security forces are patrolling the areas day and night. But they cannot be everywhere, because we do not have so many security forces in our state,” Konthoujam told the media in Imphal on Sunday.
The border operation comes after four Tangkhul Naga civilians were killed in Ukhrul district on Friday. The victims were travelling in two vehicles on NH-202 when assailants carried out what police described as a suspected sniper attack. The victims included a mother and her son.
The killings have triggered demands for action against those responsible. The Native People’s Committee, a platform of hill- and valley-based organisations, called a 24-hour general strike from Sunday midnight. It also demanded the abrogation of the Suspension of Operations agreement with Kuki militant groups.
The incident has placed a major inter-district road under heightened security scrutiny. NH-202 is a key route through Ukhrul, and an attack on vehicles travelling on the highway has direct implications for civilian movement, access between settlements and public confidence in road travel. The report did not provide details of any formal road closure or traffic diversion.
Former chief minister N Biren Singh visited the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences morgue on Sunday and met the bereaved families. In a social media statement, he described the killings as a “cold-blooded” attack on unarmed civilians and said there could be no justification for it.
Separately, police reported three arrests in connection with alleged extortion. Ngangom Ibomcha Singh, 28, and Konjengbam Kumarjit Singh, 41, were arrested in Bishnupur on Thursday and identified as cadres of the Kangleipak Communist Party (Apunba). Thingbaijam Naobi Singh, 47, identified as an alleged United National Liberation Front (Pambei) cadre, was apprehended on Wangkhei Ayangpalli Road in Imphal East on Friday.
The state government’s immediate response is focused on continuing border combing operations, maintaining the seal on border areas and investigating the killings and alleged extortion cases. Authorities have not disclosed when the security operations will end or whether additional forces will be deployed.
