Imphal: Curfew is imposed, even as Imphal turns into a war zone, with thousands of youngsters almost rioting in support of an inner-line permit system for Manipur. Sapam Robinhood, a Class XI student of Ananda Singh Higher Secondary Academy, Imphal East died and several people were injured as supporters clashed with police. Schools and Colleges are closed in parts of the city.

The city remains tense, students are agitated. As a pre-emptive move to prevent escalation of violence, the district magistrates of Imphal East and Imphal West imposed indefinite curfew in the greater Imphal area from 4pm yesterday.

Robinhood was hit on his left jaw by a tear gas shell, and died while being taken to a private clinic, Raj Medicity hospital.

The Manipur government has ordered closure of all schools and colleges in the greater Imphal area from today.  Schoolboys and girls from  in and around the city left classes to participate in demonstrations in support of implementation of the inner-line permit system in the state, a campaign spearheaded by the Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System.

The education department said the institutions were being closed in view of the “deteriorating” law and order situation as students act as “fronts” of ILP protesters.

 The clash

The clash took place in the Sanjenthong area when the police fired tear gas shells to stop the students from marching to the Assembly, which is in session.

They raised slogans in front of their schools and later tried to storm the Assembly complex. In the process, they pulled down a traffic island kiosk in Imphal East. When police teams arrived, they hurled stones at them. The police who retaliated by hurling stones and firing rubber bullets and tear gas shells.

Several students were injured in the melee, and were admitted to nearby hospitals. The police picked up protesters from various parts of Imphal and detained them. The joint committee claimed that about 10,000 students took part in yesterday’s demonstrations.

Meanwhile, in the Assembly yesterday, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) member L. Ibomcha Singh demanded a discussion on ILP in the morning session of the Assembly. The demand came up during zero hour. Chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh, who is also the leader of the House, decided not to respond to the demand.

The joint committee’s women’s wing also tried to storm the private residence of Speaker L. Lokeshore at Keishapat in Imphal. It had planned to demonstrate when the Speaker came out of his house on his way to attend the Assembly session. However, the protesters had to return as the Speaker was apparently already out of his house when they arrived.

“We are pressing for a bill that will protect the indigenous people from the increasing influx in the state. We want to tell the Speaker about our demands,” said M. Memchoubi, a leader of the women’s wing.

The committee was established on July 4, 2012 to demand immediate implementation of the inner-line permit system in Manipur to protect the “future” of the indigenous population of Manipur. It said in the 2001 census, Manipur had a population of 22,93,896, of which outsiders accounted for over 7 lakh.

The committee has been protesting over the past week against the Manipur Regulation of Tenants and Visitors Bill, 2015, saying that it aims at regulating entry of visitors, tenants and migrant workers and is not to protect the indigenous people of the state. It wants the bill, which was introduced in the Assembly on March 16, to be replaced by a new legislation.

The committee, which held sit-ins and protest marches over the past week, intensified its agitation because its demand has not been discussed by the on-going session of the Assembly, which will conclude on Friday.

[Prepared by intern Tanushree using media sources]

  Imphal, Inner line permit, interns, Manipur, Northeast