A violent mob in Manipur, led by women and local leaders, forced the Indian Army to hand over the twelve cadres of the banned extremist group KYKL who were arrested on Saturday. The mob, which had around 1200-1500 people, surrounded the operations area, which prevented the security forces from proceeding safely with the operations.
The search operation to apprehend the militants was launched on Saturday by the Security Forces in the Itham village in Imphal East. After laying cordons around the area to prevent issues for the local public, the militants were arrested along with caches of arms and ammunition.
However, a large mob with around 1500 people, which soon turned aggressive, surrounded the area and blocked the Army from proceeding with the operation.
According to the statement by the Defence PRO, Kohima and Imphal, the forces opted against the use of force against the large mob of women, as they expected large casualties.
“Repeated appeals to the aggressive mob to let security forces carry on with the operation as per the law did not yield any result,” the statement read.
To avoid any collateral damage of civilians, the Army instead opted to hand over the detained militants to the mob and local leaders, and left the area with the recovered weapons and war-like stores.
The arrested militants belonged to the banned extremist group Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL), a Meitei militant group that operates in the Imphal region. Among the twelve arrested was the self-styled Lt Col Moirangthem Tamba alias Uttam, who was the mastermind of the 2015 Dogra Ambush, in which 18 Army officers lost their lives and 15 others were seriously injured.
The Indian Army, in a statement, requested the people of Manipur to allow and assist the Security Forces ‘in maintaining law and order to bring peace and stability’.
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