42 HOUR MANIPUR BANDH FROM TODAY

Militant groups under suspension of operation (SoO) with Manipur government have called for a 42 hour Manipur bandh with effect from 6am today. Ten factions of Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) are under suspension of operation truce with the government after they jointly entered to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with state government in 2009. Alleging that state government has failed to initiate any action to a charter of demands submitted by them at the time of inking the MoU, the groups recently threatened to impose a bandh. The militant groups earlier asked the state government to declare its stand on the charter of demands in the floor of the ongoing budget session of the state Assembly on or before February 10. KCP (Military Council), in a statement signed by its public relation officer AK Mangang, said that state government had failed to announce its stand either in the state Assembly or to the group within the given deadline. The bandh which commenced from 6 am today will continue till Tuesday noon. The ten-point charter of demands includes ‘State autonomy for the state of Manipur like J&K’ and ‘Constitutional safeguard for the protection of territorial integrity.’