Inside Armored Vehicle, Soldiers Brave Attacks in Manipur

Imphal/New Delhi:

An armored vehicle belonging to central security forces came under heavy attack by protesters from the Kuki tribes in Manipur on the first day of the Centre’s order to ensure free movement of people in the crisis-hit state, which is currently under President’s rule.

A video taken from inside the vehicle, which has now gone viral, shows stones and other projectiles thrown by protesters hitting the windshield of the armored vehicle, while the soldiers inside warn the protesters to retreat or face consequences.

Amid a barrage of projectiles that struck the mine-resistant vehicle, causing loud metallic cracks to reverberate inside the cabin, the soldiers managed to push through the road unharmed, according to security sources.

The nearly two-minute video shows the armored vehicle plowing through an empty passenger bus and a van placed by the protesters to block the road, running over a mound of stones that would have stopped a smaller vehicle, and ramming through three separate lines of metal barrels placed one after another amid burning tires.

More security personnel were waiting on the other side of the blockade when the vehicle finally arrived. No one was injured during the crossing, sources said.

A similar security vehicle, acting as an escort, approached from the opposite direction, ready to enter the zone that the armored vehicle had just passed.

Civilian buses escorted by security forces resumed trips across districts in Manipur on March 8 amid protests by the Kuki tribes, who are demanding no free movement until their call for a separate administration carved out of the state is met.

A protester died from bullet injuries in Kangpokpi district. Sixteen protesters and 27 security personnel were injured, and two vehicles belonging to the security forces were set on fire, according to the police.

Some elements among the protesters fired at the security forces, prompting the soldiers to retaliate, the police said.

Buses traveling to southern Manipur’s Churachandpur reached their destination without incident and encountered no road blockades, officials said. The buses passed through the Meitei-dominated Bishnupur and reached Churachandpur’s Kangvai, approximately 55 km from Imphal, carrying essentials like fuel and cooking gas.

The Centre had announced that there should be no road blockades anywhere in Manipur starting March 8.

The valley-dominant Meitei community and over a dozen distinct tribes collectively known as Kuki, who dominate some hill areas of Manipur, have been in conflict since May 2023 over issues such as land rights and political representation. Over 250 people have died in the violence, and nearly 50,000 have been internally displaced.

Kuki leaders, nearly two dozen militant groups that have signed the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement, and their affiliated civil organizations have demanded that the Centre grant them a separate administration before allowing communities to move freely across Manipur.

Meitei organizations have questioned why thousands of internally displaced people living in relief camps are being threatened by the Kuki tribes from returning home to rebuild their lives, and why people cannot travel safely on national highways while talks continue simultaneously.