Imphal/Guwahati:

N Biren Singh, who resigned as Chief Minister of violence-hit Manipur days before President’s Rule with the assembly under animated suspension was imposed, in a long post on X today said the shift in Manipur’s demographic balance is not speculation, but “happening before our eyes.”

The Kuki tribes, who are dominant in some areas categorised as hill districts in Manipur, hold Mr Singh responsible for the outbreak of clashes in May 2023 over his policies that allegedly targeted the Kuki tribes.

The valley-dominant Meitei community blame an influx of illegal immigrants from neighbouring Myanmar and alleged mushrooming of unrecognised villages across the state as the root cause of the ethnic clashes.

Land rights and political representation are also among issues that have contributed to tensions.

Mr Singh shared an old post from November 8, 2022 showing a 26-year-old Myanmar national who was arrested for carrying the Aadhaar card of an Indian who had died.

“Flashback to 2022: A Myanmar national with a fake Indian Aadhaar card. How many more remain undetected till today?” Mr Singh said in the post.

“Our land and identity are under threat. With a small population and limited resources, we stand vulnerable. I monitored and detected illegal immigration tirelessly until May 2, 2023. But after the tragic events of 3rd May, 2023 our state machinery has struggled to respond effectively.

“An unguarded 398-km border with Myanmar and the Free Movement Regime (FMR) were rapidly shifting Manipur’s demographic balance. This is not speculation, it is happening before our eyes. Since our government took charge in March 2017, the challenge has only intensified. After the May 3, 2023 incident, the situation has become even more critical,” Mr Singh said.

“Manipur is a small state, with a small population and no significant resources. We have only three MPs to represent us in the nation’s highest decision-making body. Yet, we have always stood with pride, resilience, and an unbreakable spirit.

“Illegal immigration continues to be on the rise, threatening the very fabric of our society. So far, we have only identified a fraction of those who have entered our land. But what about the ones who remain undetected to this day? I urge all concerned authorities to take serious note and intensify efforts to detect and deport illegal immigrants from Manipur. As for me, I will continue this fight with unwavering commitment in every way I can,” Mr Singh said.

“The challenge before us is not just ours alone, it carries consequences far beyond our borders,” he added.

Flashback to 2022: A Myanmar national with a fake Indian Aadhaar card. How many more remain undetected till today?

My Dear Indigenous Friends,

Our land and identity are under threat. With a small population and limited resources, we stand vulnerable. I monitored and detected… https://t.co/ivUX7gDvt9

— N. Biren Singh (@NBirenSingh) February 13, 2025

What Next In Manipur

The President’s Rule was imposed for the 11th time in Manipur today since 1951.

Sources in the Manipur administration said that for a start, they expect the central security forces to neutralise armed groups, disarm everyone from both sides, open up highways in the hill and valley areas, ensure airport access for all, and work out ways to rebuild, compensate and provide safety for internally displaced people to return home.

A communique from the office of President Droupadi Murmu said after receiving a report from Governor Ajay Bhalla and “after considering the report and other information received by me, I am satisfied that a situation has arisen in which the Government of that State cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of India”.

The move by the Centre came as the state BJP failed to come to a consensus on the chief ministerial candidate and the assembly could not be convened.

The BJP was hoping to pick a chief minister after Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned from his visit to the US. But meanwhile, the gap in the convening of state assembly threatened to pass the constitutionally approved maximum time of six months.

Article 174(1) of the Constitution says that state assemblies have to be convened no later than six months after their last sitting.

In the case of Manipur, the last sitting was on August 12, 2024. The budget session of the assembly, which was expected to begin on Monday, had to be postponed indefinitely after Mr Singh and his Council of Ministers stepped down. 

The deadline for convening the assembly was today and in the evening, President’s Rule had to be declared in the state.

Imphal:

The umbrella body of civil society organisations of the Meitei community in Manipur has alleged statements issued by its Kuki counterparts in recent times show they want “to create circumstances that validate their long-standing demand for a separate administration.”

The Coordination Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) in a statement said even when the Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh stepped down “for the larger good”, Kuki civil society groups have “found another pretext to continue their movement for a separate administration.”

COCOMI’s statement comes amid the spectre of President’s Rule looming large over the violence-hit state after the chief minister resigned on Sunday, a day before a no-confidence motion to be introduced by the Congress in the budget session of the assembly, which was cancelled by the Governor.

The Meitei civil society organisation alleged their Kuki counterparts have “consistently sought new justifications to sustain unrest, making their own people suffer while capitalising on their discontent to push their vested political agenda.”

“COCOMI urges the government of India to recognise this systematic agenda and take firm measures to hold accountable any individual, organisation, or group that justifies instability and violence as a means to pursue their political ambitions. The people of Manipur deserve peace, stability, and a resolution that upholds the integrity of the state,” it said.

The valley-dominant Meitei community and over a dozen distinct tribes collectively known as Kuki, who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, have been fighting since May 2023 over a range of issues such as land rights and political representation.

Churachandpur-based Kuki organisation Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) and the Kangpokpi-based Kuki group Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU) are in the forefront of the call for a separate administration carved out from Manipur, so are the 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs in the 60-member Manipur assembly and nearly a dozen Kuki-Zo militant groups that have signed a ceasefire (Suspension of Operations, or SoO Agreement).

The Kuki tribes and the opposition Congress party in Manipur have said the chief minister’s resignation is “too little, too late”. They have not given any indication of agreeing for talks unless they get separate administration, and an investigation is ordered into the alleged role of the chief minister in instigating the violence.

While Kuki leaders and militants under the SoO agreement have pointed at the ethnic clashes that began in May 2023 as the reason why they escalated their demand from an autonomous council to a separate administration, or a Union Territory with an assembly, Meitei leaders have cited numerous protests in the past by the Kuki tribes seeking separation, or “Kukiland”, a land of their own.

The World Kuki-Zo Intellectual Council (WKZIC) in a memorandum to the Manipur Governor on January 15 said the Kuki tribes have been demanding a state “since 1946-47.”

“We have been demanding Constitutional Kukiland state under Article 3 of the Indian Constitution, since 1946-47 to the first Prime Minister of India PM Jawaharlal Nehru in the name of Kuki National Assembly (KNA), resurged by Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM), Kuki State Demand Committee (KSDC) and KNO-UPF who were under SoO with GoI [government of India] since 2008, to safeguard and in recognition of our community’s rights, including our right to self-determination, cultural identity, and linguistic heritage,” the WKZIC said in the memorandum, which also detailed hardships of the Kuki tribes since India’s Independence.

Over 250 people have been killed and 50,000 have been internally displaced in the Manipur clashes that began nearly two years ago.

Imphal/Guwahati:

A key tripartite meeting was held on Thursday between the Centre, the Manipur government, and the United Naga Council (UNC) over the Naga body’s demand for rollback of “arbitrarily created” seven districts.

A senior Manipur Home Department officer said that after the threadbare discussion in the meeting, it was mutually agreed that a proposal would be presented by the representatives of the state government in the next round of tripartite meetings, scheduled in April.

In Thursday’s meeting, held in Naga-dominated Senapati district, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) adviser for northeast affairs AK Mishra, Manipur Chief Secretary Prashant Kumar Singh, Home Commissioner N Ashok Kumar, and four Naga leaders including UNC chief NG Lorho and general secretary Vareiyo Shatsang were present.

The previous round of tripartite talks held on November 29 last year did not yield any result.

The seven districts were created under controversial circumstances in December 2016 by the then Congress government when O Ibobi Singh was chief minister. He was a three-term chief minister from 2002 to 2017.

The UNC, which is the top body of the Naga tribes in Manipur, had fiercely objected to the decision to create the new districts.

The UNC has said the seven new districts encroached upon ancestral lands of the Naga tribes.

It was also under Mr Ibobi’s Congress government in Manipur that Any Kuki Tribes (AKT) were included into the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category in 2003. The AKT is not a distinct tribe like the Thadou and many other tribes which are collectively known as Kuki.

The tripartite talks come at a time when the Kuki tribes and the Meiteis have been fighting since May 2023 over a range of issues such as land rights and political representation.

Imphal/New Delhi:

An umbrella body of civil society groups of Manipur’s Meitei community has condemned the kidnapping for ransom and murder of a man in the violence-hit state.

The Meitei Alliance, an apex body of civil society groups of the valley-dominant community, in a statement said it is “crucial to keep legal issues free from communal divisions, as unity and justice are of paramount importance.”

The Manipur Police said six suspected members of the ‘Arambai Tenggol’ (AT) have been arrested for allegedly kidnapping and killing Md Nawash, 33, on January 14. The body was found two days later, the police said.

Nawash was kidnapped from his house in Imphal East district’s Kairang Mayai Leikai neighbourhood, the police said, adding he was brought dead at Thoubal district hospital on January 16.

The six suspected members of the ‘Arambai Tenggol’ have been identified as Sagolsem Chingkheinganba Singh, 25; Chingakham Sanatomba Singh, 19; Sapam Somorjit Singh, 32; Maibam Bokenjit Singh, 24; Athokpam Jiban Singh, 30, and Chingakham Mani Singh, 41.

The Meitei Alliance thanked the police for their swift response in arresting the six suspects.

“We strongly call for a thorough investigation and prompt prosecution to ensure accountability. The Meitei Alliance also acknowledges and honours the significant contributions of the Meitei Pangal [Muslim] community to the state’s rich history, particularly the role they played in protecting Manipur,” the Meitei Alliance said.

“The Meitei Alliance stands united with the people of Manipur in condemning all forms of violence and urges everyone to respect the rule of law, refraining from taking matters into their own hands or making communal comments, especially on social media,” it said.

In connection with an incident of abduction of one Md. Nawash, 33 years, S/o Md. Leharuddin of Keirang Mayai Leikai PS – Heingang from his house on 14.01.2025 for ransom by suspected members of AT, who was later brought dead today at Thoubal District hospital, Manipur Police has…

— Manipur Police (@manipur_police) January 16, 2025

Police records show several AT members have been arrested and some have been summoned by local courts in the last few months. On December 3, three AT members who were planning to extort money from the public and government officials were arrested in the state capital Imphal.

The Arambai Tenggol maintains it started out as a youth group, but took up arms after ethnic clashes with the Kuki tribes began in May 2023. Locally known as AT, it faces charges of looting weapons from police armouries, acts which it says were necessary to protect the Meitei community from heavily armed Kuki militants and due to ineffective action by the security forces in the early days of the ethnic clashes.

Several military and paramilitary leaders have said armed groups from both sides – many of them call themselves “volunteers” – are involved in the Manipur violence.

There are hundreds of videos from the Manipur conflict where Kuki and Meitei ‘volunteers’ are seen brandishing assault rifles, sniper guns, machine guns, grenade launchers, etc.

Imphal:

Curfew was clamped in a sub-division in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district on Saturday following tension between the Naga and Kuki-Zo community people while in a separate incident in Kamjong district, a mob on Saturday destroyed a makeshift camp of the Assam Rifles, officials said

Officials in Imphal said that tension has been prevailing for the past three days in the Kangchup Geljang sub-division of Kangpokpi after the villagers of Naga-dominated Konsakhul village and Kuki-Zo-inhabited Leilon Vaiphei village engaged in bickering over a territorial dispute.

Konsakhul villagers are claiming that the Leilon Vaiphei village is their area but the claim was strongly opposed by the villagers of Leilon Vaiphei.

Amidst the territorial dispute, there was an allegation that a Naga woman was assaulted by a few people on January 7.

As the tension escalated in the areas and some minor clashes took place between the villagers of the two villages, District Magistrate Mahesh Chaudhari imposed an indefinite public curfew in the sub-division under the BNSS, 2023.

However, no injury was reported in the clashes.

The DM’s order prohibited the movement of persons in and around areas along the Konsakhul and Leilon Vaiphei villages with immediate effect and until further orders.

In another incident, a mob on Saturday destroyed a makeshift camp of the Assam Rifles in Kamjong district over alleged harassment and restrictions on the transportation of timber for constructing houses.

Police said that the troubles started when the Assam Rifles troopers reportedly imposed restrictions on transporting timber intended to construct houses in Kasom Khullen village. Assam Rifles personnel used tear gas shells and fired in the air to disperse the mob, a police official said, adding that no one was injured in the incident.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Imphal:

A hand grenade was on Thursday found outside the house of Laishram Kamalbabu Singh, who went missing allegedly from the Leimakhong Military Station in November, triggering panic in the area, police said.

The grenade was found near the gate of Singh’s house at Loitang Khunou in Imphal West district, they said.

Police later retrieved the grenade and defused it.

A note was also found along with the grenade, stating that the Joint Action Committee formed in response to the man going missing must be disbanded and a new JAC should be constituted.

It also said, “No contractors which sells the land can be part of the JAC.” The JAC has been spearheading the protests that have been underway since the man went missing on November 25.

Last week, CM N Biren Singh, who claimed that Singh had gone missing from the military station, said the case would be handed over to the CBI.

Singh, a native of Assam’s Cachar district, was a works supervisor for a contractor working with the Military Engineering Services (MES) in Leimakhong Military Station of the 57th Mountain Division, according to the Army.

Police had earlier said that over 2,000 security personnel were deployed to search for Singh, who belongs to the Metei community.

Amid protests over his disappearance, state Social Welfare Minister Heikham Dingo had said that all documents related to Singh were sent to the Prime Minister’s Office as well as the offices of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Guwahati/New Delhi:

The Centre has tightened the rules for movement of people from either side of the border in India and Myanmar, sources said.

The new rules further restrict movements of people from 16 km under the free movement regime (FMR) to 10 km now, on either side.

The FMR, which in its current form enables entry without visas and passports, began as a formal system in the 1950s to allow tribes who share familial, social and ethnic ties on both sides of the border to keep in touch with their people, though it was not known by that acronym officially till decades later.

While the Centre has announced it would scrap the FMR, no official notification in this regard was ever made, sources said.

For Manipur, the Centre has asked the state to send two police personnel and two health officials to designated entry and exit points at the outposts of the Assam Rifles, the border-guarding and counter-insurgency force that operates under the Indian Army in Manipur.

A total of 43 designated crossing points will be set up for holders of “border pass” issued by an authorised representative of the Assam Rifles, according to a letter sent by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to the Manipur government. NDTV has seen the letter.

Only those living in the “border area” – defined as within 10 km on either side – are eligible to apply for the “border pass” for a stay of up to seven days; the pass-holder has to return it at the same crossing point where it was issued.

Those living in villages beyond the “border areas” (the 10-km zone) and citizens of any third nation cannot be issued the border pass.

The border pass will be issued to only one adult, and minors (below 18 years old) have to be accompanied by parents. The details of a maximum number of three children can be captured in a single border pass belonging to either parent.

The biometric details of Myanmar nationals crossing over to India using border passes will be captured by Assam Rifles’ representatives during entry and exit, the new rules say.

Police representatives will go to the places, where the Myanmar nationals have mentioned as their address of visit in India, to verify them. Any border pass holder found going beyond the 10-km zone or staying for more than seven days will be punished under India’s laws, the rules say.

In pilot mode, eight entry and exit points will be opened as soon as the two police and two health personnel are made available, and when the software to capture details of border pass holders is stabilised, the MHA said in the letter.

Apart from the pilot, the entry and exit points will be set up in two phases – 14 in the first phase after installing biometric machines, and 21 in the second phase after setting up more infrastructure.

The proof of identity can be issued by the station house officer of the local police station or an equivalent rank in Myanmar’s case, and a local village chief or a village authority stating the applicant belongs to the village falling within the 10-km “border area” on either side. The proof of identity document is valid for one year.

Manipur has been asking the Centre to scrap the FMR and fence the porous Indo-Myanmar border, while its neighbours Mizoram and Nagaland have opposed both proposals, citing ties with kindred tribes across the border.

Manipur’s valley-dominant Meitei community and over a dozen distinct tribes collectively known as Kuki, who are dominant in some hill areas of the state and who share ethnic ties with people in Myanmar’s Chin State, have been fighting since May 2023 over a range of issues such as land rights, political representation, drugs trafficking, and illegal immigration.

Indian and Myanmarese nationals were allowed to visit each other’s territories up to 40 km without visas or passports after an agreement of sorts between the two neighbours in the 1950s. In 1968, India tightened the FMR with a new permit system. The rise of insurgency in Manipur, Mizoram, and Nagaland then sparked concerns over the FMR on the Indian side.

In 2004, India limited the FMR distance to 16 km from 40 km. In addition, instead of allowing people to cross from multiple points, only three places were allowed to be used as crossing points – Pangsau in Arunachal Pradesh, Moreh in Manipur, and Zokhawthar in Mizoram.

In 2018, India and Myanmar signed the Agreement on Land Border Crossing, which added more regulations and harmonised the existing FMR.

Manipur shares 400 km of the 1,640 km-long India-Myanmar border. Fencing on the mostly porous border has started. It is expected to take a couple of years to fence the entire length of the border completely.

New Delhi:

Nothing is more important than ensuring the rule of law and disarming all armed groups in violence-hit Manipur to bring peace, former Chief Justice of the Manipur High Court Siddharth Mridul said at an event in Delhi on Tuesday.

To a question by NDTV over reports that some civil society organisations are threatening internally displaced people, or IDPs, from returning to whatever is left of their homes to rebuild them with government support and security, Justice Mridul said, “The IDPs are not their [some organisations’] hostages. Let’s be clear.”

“They can return home provided we create an environment conducive to their returning home, which brings us back to the rule of law. Once law and order are restored and there is a rule of law, and groups have been disarmed of all the illegal weapons that they possess, either looted or smuggled, and there are talks under the auspices of the government, that’s the only way forward, external factors apart because I am keen on Manipur. I am sure there are external factors, but I am not an expert on that,” said Justice Mridul, who served as Manipur High Court Chief Justice from October 2023 till his retirement last month.

At least 50,000 people from both the valley-dominant Meitei community and over a dozen distinct tribes collectively known as Kuki, who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, have been displaced since ethnic clashes began between the two in May 2023.

The Kuki tribes also include ‘Any Kuki Tribes’, which was added to the Scheduled Tribes’ (ST) list in 2003 when the Congress was in power in the state, led by Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh.

Justice Mridul repeated what the Supreme Court said in November 2023 about “keeping the pot boiling”, while hearing a court-appointed committee’s report that flagged troubling actions by civil society organisations that contributed to keeping ethnic tensions simmering in Manipur.

“… The reason why I believe that there is somebody interested in keeping the pot boiling is that every time the situation seems to be normalising, there is a fresh injection of violence, which leads me to believe that there are forces – and if I were to believe the General, the forces are external, not internal. Even if the forces are external, they do have collaborators locally who ensure that the agenda of keeping Manipur burning is pursued vigorously,” Justice Mridul said, referring to a presentation by Major General Rajan Kochhar (retired) at the Delhi event.

“I am beginning to subscribe to the idea that there does seem to be an invisible hand. Whose hand is it is not clear to me yet. There could be a number of factors at play,” he said.

Justice Mridul had worked closely with the state authorities while he was in Manipur. He said though there have been periods of absence of violence, at no stage since May last year has normalcy ever been restored in Manipur.

“… You must understand the separation of powers. My interaction with the executive was purely to ensure that the judiciary was able to discharge its function. These are not political discussions, they can never be political discussions. But the impression I gathered was that – I may be wrong, I may be terribly wrong – nobody seems to be in command of the vessel,” he said.

“The point is that till such time there is disarmament, till the time that the weapons that were looted, snatched, whatever, are recovered, and till the time people with arms smuggled from across the border are intercepted and the weapons are taken from them, there is no possibility of peace returning to Manipur,” Justice Mridul said. “Armed people are not going to permit you either to return to your homes or live peacefully.”

“Trust Is Important”: Major General Rajan Kochhar (Retired)

Major General Kochhar said trust is the most important factor to normalise Manipur.

“Without trust, there will be all kinds of forces – you can call them internal, you can call them external – who will increase the divide. After I have listened to everybody here. Everybody agrees that there should be peace there. How this peace has to be brought about is the big question,” said Major General Kochhar, VSM, who retired after 37 years of service.

“A large number of people have come from Myanmar to Manipur… It is very important for the local community to identify militants among the civilians. It is the responsibility of the community. Unless we do that, we are creating buffer zones within our own state. That cannot happen. A buffer zone is created between two countries that are at war to prevent that war from escalating. Golan Heights, Syria, there was a buffer zone. Lebanon, the Blue Line, there was a buffer zone… How can you have a buffer zone within your own state and restrict the movement of people from one place to another? That is the larger question which I think both the communities need to answer,” Major General Kochhar said.

Dr Arambam Noni, an associate professor at Imphal-based DM University and one of the speakers at the Delhi event, further extended his comment on the “untenable and obsolete demand” of an ethnocentric homeland which he made at a side event of the 57th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva in early October.

Ethnocentric Homeland

“Ethnopolitical leaders are playing a dangerous game. They want to end overlapping spaces. When they end overlapping spaces in a state like Manipur inhabited by 35 officially recognised communities, some of which only have a population of 600 or 1,000 people, their existence is under threat. If we allow to end these overlapping spaces, they only aim to increase the demand for ethnocentric political spaces. And that is very, very dangerous. We’d be setting a very dangerous precedence by favouring an ethnocentric homeland because the Constitution does not really acknowledge the possibility of ethnocentric homelands,” Dr Noni said.

He said the question of whether the modern state can afford to allow the incessant movement of population across borders in the name of culture, or can the modern state accommodate them, needs an answer.

“Do you have a mechanism in the modern state system to accommodate these free-flowing movements of population, not only for cultural solidarities but also for territorial solidarity? That’s problematic. I think modern states normally do not have any such mechanism to deal with these continued, territorial trespassing of identities because modern states basically stand on fixed territoriality and sovereignty. What is happening in northeast India is the porousness of the fixed idea of a State.

“I don’t see any problem in the cultural transition of people across borders. But I see a problem in the continual reconciliation of identities for ethnocentric homelands. That of course will create a conflict with overlapping spaces like Manipur, which is a multicultural state. Having said this, I think our problem is very, very complex. The weaponisation of identity is not good because micro-identities are increasingly feeling threatened. That part must be acknowledged. The media or the academic society must not get trapped in binaries that they believe… because there are other aspects of our social world, and we must also acknowledge the resources that can unite people, not divide people.

No Comfortable Life In Relief Camps

“Institutions need to be democratised. There should be fair development and redistribution of resources… The other suggestion that I want to make is – as Justice Mridul has already said – that you must allow IDPs to return home because that’s their fundamental right. You cannot give them a comfortable life in relief camps,” Dr Noni said at the panel discussion ‘Understanding the Barriers of Northeast India and Manipur Violence: The Way Forward’, organised by TMP Manipur, Meitei Alliance, and Manipur International Youth Centre.

This is the second winter the internally displaced people in Manipur are spending in relief camps.

The 10 MLAs of the Kuki tribes and the Zo people and their civil society groups have said talks are not possible unless Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh quits. The Kuki tribes also blame him for allegedly starting the Manipur crisis; they have reinforced this allegation with the leaked tapes controversy.

Kuki leaders have demanded a political solution in the form of a separate administration before any other issues, including the return of thousands of people living in relief camps, can be discussed.

Meitei leaders have cited this condition to allege that Kuki leaders are engineering an ethnocentric homeland demand; the Meitei leaders’ argument is talks can go on while at the same time people living in difficult conditions in the camps can also return home since no territory is ethnic exclusive.

There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley districts.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram have cited discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis as some of the reasons behind their call for separation.

New Delhi:

Firing has been reported from an inter-district border village between Manipur’s Imphal East and Kangpokpi districts on Christmas, security sources said.

They said reports about possible casualties are not true, adding more forces have been sent to the affected village.

More details are awaited.

Guwahati/New Delhi:

Lachit Borphukan Police Academy (LBPA) in Assam’s Dergaon saw a momentous occasion on Monday when nearly 2,000 recruits of the Manipur Police participated in their passing out ceremony, ready to serve their state amid the ongoing challenges.

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who attended the passing out ceremony, said very old ties between Assam and Manipur are seeing a new bonding.

“As the situation is not good in Manipur, IRB (India Reserve Battalion) training wasn’t possible there. When I asked Himanta Biswa Sarma ji, he immediately agreed to facilitate training in Assam. I am extremely grateful to him, his colleagues in the government and the Assam DGP,” Mr Singh said.

“Today, I attended their passing out parade, and it is such a good feeling. The situation in Manipur is complex; it will take time to heal, but gradually it’s getting better,” the Chief Minister said.

Assam and Manipur Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya also attended the passing out ceremony at the police academy known for its rigorous and comprehensive training programmes.

This batch of recruits was drawn from nine IRBs and six Manipur Rifles battalions, reflecting the state’s diverse communities – Meiteis (62 per cent), Kukis (12 per cent), Nagas (26 per cent), and other tribes.

Mr Singh said the recruits will be posted together as a “team” in an attempt to bring back peace in the ethnic violence-hit state.

“Community-wise division took place due to the present situation. It was not like this earlier, and I will not allow this to happen in future,” Mr Singh told reporters after the ceremony, adding the newly trained personnel will have to do everything together in the manner in which they were trained.

“We have to start working together to bring peace to the state. Their postings will be together. We will not break the team. We will try to restore the unity of earlier Manipur,” Mr Singh said.

Impressive display of skill and discipline by our recruits during the Unarmed Combat demonstration!

I appreciate the true spirit of courage and preparedness of the new recruits. Keep up the exceptional efforts as you continue to serve and protect with honor. My best wishes to… pic.twitter.com/KJM2voLvhG

— N. Biren Singh (@NBirenSingh) December 23, 2024

Their training covered a comprehensive curriculum – physical fitness, unarmed combat, disaster management, law and policing, crowd control, and tactical operations.

“The recruits arrived with significant challenges. At least 50 per cent were overweight, including 5 per cent classified as obese, and 31 per cent fell into the 30-40 age group, presenting unique physical demands,” an official of the top police academy said.

By the end of the programme, only 5 per cent remained overweight due to chronic medical conditions, a testament to the academy’s rigorous training regimen, the official said.