"Some Agencies Giving Manipulated Info To Centre": Manipur Chief Minister

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh today alleged "some agencies" have been sending "manipulated" information about the violence-hit state to New Delhi. He said the Centre is aware of the matter and is collecting information from the grassroots.

"Misinformation, manipulative and politicised information were sent by some agencies to New Delhi. Now, the Centre has realised it. It is collecting information from the grassroots. They have found correct information and they are dealing with it," Mr Singh said on the sidelines of an event in the state capital Imphal today.

The chief minister did not say which agencies gave "wrong information" to the Centre.

7 Arrested For Killing 2 Migrant Labourers

In another development, seven insurgents of the Kangleipak Communist Party (People's War Group), or KCP(PWG), have been arrested for killing two migrant labourers from Bihar. The original KCP is among the eight Meitei insurgent groups in the Home Ministry's list of banned organisations.

The seven are being interrogated, sources in the state intelligence said.

The KCP(PWG) is likely being used as "hired guns" to attack civilians and carry out extortion in the valley areas in order to keep tension simmering, top intelligence sources told NDTV based on initial investigation.

They declined to say who hired these insurgents to create terror in the valley areas, citing the investigation is in an early stage.

Both Mr Singh and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar have condemned the killings of the migrant labourers in Kakching, 45 km from Imphal, and announced ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh and Rs 10 lakh for each family, respectively.

The two young men, Sunalal Kumar, 18, and Dasharat Kumar, 17, were shot dead allegedly by the KCP(PWG) insurgents while they were cycling back to their rented accommodation from their work site.

The Centre on November 14 reimposed the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, or AFSPA, to protect security forces in hostile areas in six new locations in ethnic violence-hit Manipur.

The six police station areas included Jiribam, where 10 suspected Kuki militants were shot dead in an encounter with the security forces on November 11, and from where three women and three children from the Meitei community were kidnapped and killed by suspects who the Manipur government called "Kuki militants".

The AFSPA gives sweeping powers to the military to operate freely anywhere that has been declared a "disturbed area"; no military personnel in an area where AFSPA is in force can be prosecuted without the Centre's permission.

The Manipur government had requested the Centre to remove AFSPA from the six police station areas.

The AFSPA reimposition gave more room to the security forces to freely engage armed groups that have not signed any ceasefire deal with the government.

Before this, 19 police station areas in Manipur were not under AFSPA coverage as they were considered peaceful. The escalation in violence in Jiribam, however, brought the controversial law back to the six police station areas.