Meitei Group Calls "Public Emergency" in Manipur After Drone, Rocket Attacks

The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), a top body of the Meitei community, on Friday called a "public emergency" and urged the people to remain indoors, claiming "the government failed to provide security to the common people".

COCOMI coordinator Thokchom Somorendro, announcing the "public emergency" on Friday, said all schools, colleges and educational institutions must be shut indefinitely till the "situation improves".

He said the security forces had totally failed in discharging their duty and combating Kuki militants.

"Now, the public have to secure themselves. We have declared a public emergency immediately. Because it has now become unsafe for the public to move outdoors," the COCOMI leader told the media.

Earlier on Friday, thousands of men and women in five districts of Imphal Valley took part in a human chain rally to protest the recent drone and gun attacks in Manipur that killed three people, including a 31-year-old woman and injured 17 others, including the woman's minor daughter.

Carrying placards and banners, participants in the human chain expressed their discontent over the government's steps in dealing with Kuki militants.

An elderly man who was offering prayers was killed in a rocket-propelled bomb attack in Manipur's Moirang town today, the police said. Five others including a 13-year-old girl were injured in the attack on the lakeside town in Bishnupur district, 35 km from the state capital Imphal. She is the second minor injured in attacks in the last five days. The first minor was injured in a drone attack by suspected Kuki insurgents on Sunday, the police and the home department had said.