People give up over 1,000 illegal arms during surrender period in Manipur: Cops

Imphal: People handed over to the security forces more than 1,000 arms along with ammunition during the two-week provided to them for voluntarily surrendering looted and illegally held weapons in ethnic strife-torn Manipur, a police officer said on Friday, a day after the deadline ended.

This figure, however, is provisional and the actual number of given up arms is likely to go up after details from all districts reach the authorities in Imphal, the capital of the northeastern state which is under President’s Rule.

The officers are yet to segregate the looted arms and illegally purchased weapons, which include handguns, machine guns, grenades, mortars, and INSAS and AK-56 rifles.

“A total of around 1,023 arms have been surrendered by members of the public in five valley districts, five hill districts and Jiribam during the surrender period,” the officer said.

The remaining five districts of the northeastern state are Naga-majority ones where no ethnic violence has been reported since May 3, 2023.

In the other 11 districts, at least 250 people were killed and thousands rendered homeless since that day in clashes between the valley-based Meitei community and the Kukis who are in majority in the hills.

Of the surrendered arms, more than 760 were from the valley districts while the rest were from the hill districts and Jiribam.

"The figures, however, are tentative and we are in the process of categorising the details of the weapons and ammunitions surrendered between February 20 and March 6,” the officer said.

Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla had on February 20 urged warring groups to voluntarily surrender weapons robbed from security forces and other illegally held arms within seven days. He extended the deadline for the surrender of looted and illegal arms till 4 PM on March 6, following demands by people from both hill and valley areas for additional time.

The administration had assured people that no punitive action would be taken against those who surrendered their weapons within this period, emphasising that "this is the last opportunity for everyone concerned to contribute to peace, communal harmony, the future of our youth, and the security of our society".

Arms surrendered included 9mm pistols, sub-machine guns (SMGs), colt-machine guns (CMG), self-loading rifles (SLRs), modified snipers, grenades including Chinese ones, INSAS and AK 56 rifles, they said.

Besides, the people also handed over articles like bulletproof jackets, helmets, radio sets, camouflage uniforms, boots and locally made mortars (Pompi) during the last two weeks.

The highest number of arms surrendered was on February 27 when 307 weapons were handed over to the security forces in both valley and hill districts. Of them, 246 were alone surrendered by Arambai Tenggol, a Meitei group, police said.

March 6, the last day of the amnesty window, witnessed the second-highest number of arms surrendered with 196 weapons being handed over to various police stations in at least eight districts.

After the deadline for voluntarily surrendering arms expired at 4 pm on Thursday, joint security forces conducted combing and search operations in various parts of the state and recovered 36 arms, 129 ammunition, seven explosives, 21 miscellaneous items and destroyed 15 illegal bunkers, police said in a statement.

Twelve bunkers were destroyed at K Langnom and Khengjang areas while three others were demolished at Haraothel, all in Kangpokpi district.

The Centre had imposed President's rule in the state on February 13 after Chief Minister N Biren Singh resigned. The state assembly, which has a tenure till 2027, has been put under suspended animation.