Sunil Aswal
Imphal: The death toll in the month-long ethnic violence has risen to 98 and the number of injured to 310 while 144 sophisticated arms, looted earlier from the police and various security forces, have been surrendered at different districts after Union Home Minister Amit Shah's appeal on Thursday, Chief Security Advisor to Manipur government Kuldiep Singh said on Friday. Singh said that the numbers of FIRs registered have gone up to 3,734 and a total of 65 persons have been arrested till Friday while the 4,014 cases of arson have been reported. "Of the 144 surrendered weapons, there are 37 SLRs, 18 carbines, four AK 47 rifles," he told the media, adding that currently around 37,450 people of different communities are being sheltered in 272 relief camps, including community halls, in 13 districts. He also said that no major violent incident has been reported in the last 24 hours, barring a one or two incidents of firing in the state which has been dealt with strictly by the security forces like state police, central paramilitary forces, Army and Assam Rifles. Shah, on the last day of his four-day visit to violence hit Manipur on Thursday, requested all concerned to surrender their weapons to the security forces and administration, otherwise strict legal action would be taken against those who are possessing arms and ammunition. Defence officials said that intelligence information-based combing operations are underway across Manipur. "To ensure sustainable peace in Manipur, security forces have identified de-weaponisation and enforcement of the provisions of the Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement signed with the Kuki militants as focal points to be addressed immediately from the security perspective across Manipur," a defence ...
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