Goods and properties worth over Rs 1 crore were destroyed in a communal frenzy that broke out between two communities living in the international border town of Moreh in Manipur.
The violence broken out on Tuesday morning at around 9:45am when miscreants belong to a particular community attacked volunteers of another community who were staging a rally in support for the ongoing demand for the implementation of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) system or a similar law to check unregulated influx of migrants into the small border state, which already has a resource crunch.
Apart from the destruction, several persons on both sides were injured and the community, which demanded ILP, suffered huge losses as around 60 shops run or owned by them were attacked. Apart from the arson attack on the shops, offices of Meitei Council Moreh and All Manipur Student Union, Moreh branch were vandalised in the violence and 100 commercial vehicles were destroyed.
Significantly, the ongoing widespread mass ILP agitation has been crippling the state since July and it is the first time that a particular community decided to oppose the movement saying it should not be implemented in Moreh.
A school teacher in Moreh who requested to remained anonymous said,
Moreh is an international border state and if ILP system is implemented, it would become disastrous in conducting international border trade.
On the other hand, a volunteer of Meitei Council Manipur, Ngagom Abung Meitei, who played an active role in staging the ILP support rally where over 400 people participated said,
ILP system is very much needed here in Moreh. Because it is a border town, it becomes a major point of illegal immigration. We’ve witnessed steady inflow of illegal migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar who cross over at Moreh and gradually become Indian citizen through illegal means and this needs to be checked.
Abung also termed the communal violence as “an opposition to ILP system because they actually facilitate illegal immigration and see the implementation of ILP system in Manipur as a hindrance to their operation.”
Fortunately, the district administration responded quickly and prevented the violence from flaring up. The Deputy Commission of Chandel District, Robert Kshetrimayum called an all-community leaders meeting where it was resolved to quell the frenzy and allow the situation to return to normalcy.
(Sunzu Bachaspatimayum is a freelance journalist and a documentary filmmaker based in Manipur)
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