India
Explained: What is Section 163 of the BNSS, imposed in Manipur’s Kamjong?
Nine people have been killed in fresh clashes between Naga and Kuki groups in Manipur’s Kamjong, Ukhrul and Kangpokpi districts, officials said, and the Chief Minister has appealed for peace.
Section 163 of the BNSS lets a district magistrate restrict gatherings and movement to prevent disturbance.
The Kamjong district magistrate imposed it after fresh clashes between Naga and Kuki groups.
It bans gatherings of five or more people and carrying firearms or other dangerous objects in the restricted area.
Nine people have been killed in clashes in three Manipur districts, according to officials.
No fresh incidents were reported on Sunday, October 11.
Chassad is a Kuki-majority village in a predominantly Naga district, according to the same report.
That killing set off an exchange of fire between Kuki and Naga armed groups that continued on Saturday and left a man dead and about 10 houses burned, according to the reports.
On Saturday, suspected militants killed people in Kangpokpi district’s Tapon and Makui villages, and in Kamjong district’s Ningchou village near the Myanmar border, according to Daijiworld.
A man was also shot dead in a vehicle in Ukhrul district, according to the same report.
Accounts of the victims differ between outlets: one report lists six Nagas, two Kukis and a Gorkha farmer, while another says the dead were from the same family, so the breakdown is not verified.
Kuki-Zo organisations held security forces and a Naga armed group responsible for the death of the woman in Chassad, according to Daijiworld.
A Naga civil society body, the Working Committee JTC Manipur, blamed militants for another killing, according to the same report. These are claims by the groups and have not been independently verified.
Officials attributed other attacks to suspected militants and did not name a group, according to Daijiworld.
No fresh incidents were reported in the three districts on Sunday, October 11, according to the reports.
Central armed police forces and Manipur Police have intensified patrols and search operations, and additional forces were sent to Kangpokpi and Kamjong.
Manipur hills (file image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0