IMPHAL: Normal life was affected in the five districts of the Imphal valley on Saturday due to a bandh called over the arrest of six gunmen and the death of one in a shootout with police in Thoubal on December 14. Shops and other commercial establishments were closed, while public vehicles remained off the road.
The bandh supporters, called by the Joint Action Committee, demonstrated in the middle of the road and burnt tires at Lamphel Sanakeithel in Imphal West.
In Bishnupur district, bandh supporters vandalized four-wheelers plying on the roads.
The 24-hour closure began at 6 p.m. on Friday. It was supported by the students and women wings of the Coordination Committee on Integrity of Manipur (COCOMI), a conglomerate of various Meitei civil society bodies.
Police said the six people they arrested and the one who died in the shooting at Salungpham in Thoubal were members of the banned group PREPAK who were allegedly involved in extortion activities.
A large cache of weapons and ammunition, including those stolen from police armories, was recovered from his possession, authorities said.
However, bandh supporters maintained that they were “village volunteers” protecting their neighborhoods from armed Kuki men.
More than 250 people have been killed and thousands left homeless in ethnic violence between the Meiteis and Kuki-Zo groups in Manipur since May last year.