The Union Home Ministry has reinstated the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) in six police station areas of Manipur, including the violence-affected Jiribam. This decision comes amidst ongoing ethnic violence, which has intensified tensions in the region. The areas where AFSPA has been imposed are Sekmai and Lamsang in Imphal West district, Lamlai in Imphal East district, Jiribam in Jiribam district, Leimakhong in Kangpokpi, and Moirang in Bishnupur district.
This latest order follows an earlier directive by the Manipur government, which placed the entire state under AFSPA on October 1, with exceptions for 19 police station areas, including these six. The regions omitted from the initial imposition include prominent localities such as Imphal, Lamphal, City, Singjamei, among others.
The renewed enforcement of AFSPA is driven by escalating violence and instability, underscored by recent incidents. Notably, a clash in Jiribam led to 11 suspected militants being killed in a gunfight with security forces after insurgents, in camouflage and armed with sophisticated weapons, attacked a police station and an adjacent CRPF camp. Following this incident, six civilians, including women and children, were abducted by armed militants from the same district.
These events are part of a broader conflict rooted in ethnic tensions between the Meiteis of Imphal Valley and the Kuki-Zo groups from the surrounding hills. Since May of the previous year, this violence has claimed over 200 lives and displaced thousands, adding to the region’s humanitarian crisis. The situation in Jiribam, previously spared from the ethnic clashes, shifted violently after a farmer’s mutilated body was discovered in June, heightening ethnic tensions.
As efforts to restore peace continue, the reimposition of AFSPA underscores the severe and ongoing challenges faced by Manipur’s authorities in managing security amidst persistent ethnic turmoil.
