Manipur Police Ends Surrendered Militants' Strike at Imphal

Imphal, July 27, 2019:

The hunger strike carried out by the surrendered rebels had lasted for only a few minutes when police broke up their agitation at Manipur capital Imphal. Around 100 surrendered insurgents of various outfits under the aegis of the newly formed All Manipur Hills and Valley Individual Surrender Welfare Association (AMHVISWA) launched the strike at around 11:30 am on Friday, but Imphal West district police foiled the agitation after around 25 minutes.

Police said that the association didn’t get permission from the concerned authority for the strike. However, police allowed the representatives of the association to submit their memorandum to the Chief Minister N Biren Singh through his private secretary. The Chief Minister is currently holding talks in national capital New Delhi with Central leaders.

Spokesperson of the association, Abdul Latif along with president and secretary general submitted a memorandum stating that surrendered militants must be handed over appropriate jobs as well as stipends, as promised.

K Inaobi Singh, president of the Association stated that the May 21, 2017, cabinet meeting had decided that the monthly stipend of surrendered cadres would be hiked to Rs 8,000 per month from Rs 4,000 for three years, besides, one-time financial grant provided by the government would be increased from 2.5 lakh to Rs 4 lakh. But the state government did pay heed to the demands of the surrendered militants till date, he added.

It may be mentioned within this purview that there are 653 surrendered militants of various underground outfits as per records of 2017, of which only 84 are receiving their stipend worth Rs. 3000 per month.

There are around 35 different outfits in the state but 25 of them are now under the 'Suspension of Operations' with the governments at the centre and state.

Inside Northeast’s Campaign #LetsSaveDeeporBeel is now supported by Oil India Limited (OIL). Join us as we continue the awareness campaign to preserve the only Ramsar site in Assam which is facing immense threats. We need your help to preserve this site of great ecological importance. Join the #LetsSaveDeeporBeel campaign and tweet about it, and do tag us on Twitter. Let’s make some noise!