 "Okram Ibobi Singh")
Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh on Monday had a narrow escape when militants attacked him in the state’s Ukhrul district.
The incident happened on Monday morning, when Singh and his deputy Gaikhangam Gangmei had gone to Ukhrul to inaugurate a hospital. Soon after they alighted from a helicopter, militants started firing at him. Security personnel immediately returned fire. Two security personnel have reportedly been injured. Though no militant organisation had claimed responsibility till the filing of this report, it is suspected that the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) was behind the attack.
Singh and his entourage then flew to a different location hoping to land but could not do so due to a mass protest. Finally, Singh returned to the state capital Imphal. The CM had several programmes lined up at Ukhrul district, besides the inauguration of a hospital.
On Sunday night, bombs were hurled at the newly constructed hospital which left at least one security personnel injured and part of the hospital damaged. There is resentment in the district as many say the chief minister had scheduled a hurried programme to inaugurate the hospital that has not been fully completed.
A Naga group had declared a ‘curfew’ in the district in a bid to spoil the chief minister’s programme.
Monday’s incident also highlights the growing divide between the ‘Meiteis’ (those living in the valley) and the tribals. There are five hill districts, which account for 90 per cent of the total land area, and rest 10 per cent lie in the four valley districts.
Ukhrul, like other hill districts, has a sizeable population of Naga tribe. The NSCN, which has been waging a violent war since 1980s for the formation of a “sovereign” state of Nagalim, wants the Naga inhabited areas in states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur to be part of greater Nagalim.
The incident happened on Monday morning, when Singh and his deputy Gaikhangam Gangmei had gone to Ukhrul to inaugurate a hospital. Soon after they alighted from a helicopter, militants started firing at him. Security personnel immediately returned fire. Two security personnel have reportedly been injured. Though no militant organisation had claimed responsibility till the filing of this report, it is suspected that the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) was behind the attack.
Singh and his entourage then flew to a different location hoping to land but could not do so due to a mass protest. Finally, Singh returned to the state capital Imphal. The CM had several programmes lined up at Ukhrul district, besides the inauguration of a hospital.
On Sunday night, bombs were hurled at the newly constructed hospital which left at least one security personnel injured and part of the hospital damaged. There is resentment in the district as many say the chief minister had scheduled a hurried programme to inaugurate the hospital that has not been fully completed.
A Naga group had declared a ‘curfew’ in the district in a bid to spoil the chief minister’s programme.
Monday’s incident also highlights the growing divide between the ‘Meiteis’ (those living in the valley) and the tribals. There are five hill districts, which account for 90 per cent of the total land area, and rest 10 per cent lie in the four valley districts.
Ukhrul, like other hill districts, has a sizeable population of Naga tribe. The NSCN, which has been waging a violent war since 1980s for the formation of a “sovereign” state of Nagalim, wants the Naga inhabited areas in states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur to be part of greater Nagalim.
