Manipur issues shoot-at-sight order in ‘extreme cases’ after stir against ST status turns violent

The Manipur government on Thursday allowed local authorities to issue shoot-at-sight orders in extreme cases throughout the state after incidents of violence were reported from several parts of the state, following a tribal agitation.

The government authorised district magistrates and sub-divisional magistrates to issue such orders “in extreme cases whereby all forms of persuasion, warning, reasonable force, etc have been exhausted”.

Thousands of tribals participated in a march called by the All Tribal Students Union of Manipur across all the ten hill districts of the state to oppose the demand of the majority Meitei community to be included in the Scheduled Tribe category.

The march was organised after the Manipur High Court, in an order on April 19, asked the Bharatiya Janata Party government to consider petitions for including the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe list “expeditiously, preferably within a period of four weeks”.

On Wednesday, the Army and paramilitary forces were deployed in Manipur in the wake of the violence.

The police told PTI that during the march in the Torbung area of Churachandpur district, an armed mob allegedly attacked those belonging to the Meitei community. This led to retaliatory attacks and the situation turned volatile across the state.

Several shops and houses were vandalised and burnt in arson that lasted...

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