Manipur Police officer overseeing helipad location shot dead by militants

Moreh SDPO Chingtham Anand received a bullet injury after the group of insurgents fired on policemen when they were inspecting the newly constructed helipad at Eastern ground in the border town dominated by Kuki-Zo community people, a senior officer said.

Imphal: A sub-divisional police officer was killed on Tuesday after being shot at by suspected tribal militants at Moreh in Manipur's Tengnoupal district, police said. Moreh SDPO Chingtham Anand received a bullet injury after the group of insurgents fired on policemen when they were inspecting the newly constructed helipad at Eastern ground in the border town dominated by Kuki-Zo community people, a senior officer said.

The SDPO was taken to a primary health centre in Moreh where he succumbed to his injury, the police officer said. An operation has been launched in the area to apprehend the militants, he said. The incident comes weeks after several civil society organisations, particularly those based in Moreh, demanded the removal of state forces from the border town.

In an emergency meeting, the Manipur cabinet on Tuesday approved Rs 50 lakh ex gratia for the next of the kin of Moreh SDPO Chingtham Anand. Chingtham, a resident of Imphal's Haobam Marak locality, was shot at during an ambush by militants at Moreh while he was "on duty overseeing the cleaning of the grounds of Eastern Shine School for construction of a helipad jointly by the police and BSF," an official said.

The SDPO was taken to a primary health centre in Moreh where he succumbed to his injuries, a senior police officer said. Condemning the dastardly act, the cabinet also decided to provide a suitable government employment to the next of the kin of the slain policeman. The cabinet decided to instruct the security forces "to launch a joint operation in Moreh and its adjoining areas to arrest the culprits responsible for the crime" and "noted that additional state forces have been detailed from Imphal for the purpose. The operations have since started."

The cabinet instructed central and state forces to ensure free movement of vehicles on Pallel-Moreh road NH-102 which connects Imphal valley with the border town, a distance of around 110 km. The cabinet further decided "that no illegal armed personnel shall be permitted in or around Moreh, considering the strategic position of the town under India's Act East Policy."

The cabinet also approved to recommend the World Kuki-Zo Intellectual Council (WKZIC) as an "unlawful organisation under Section 3 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967." The cabinet noted that the organisation had recently called upon the Kuki-Zo community to stock arms and ammunition following apprehension of another face-off between the two warring communities in November, before the harvesting season.

More than 180 people have lost their lives since ethnic violence broke out in the state on May 3, when a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley, while tribals, which include Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside mostly in the hill districts.