Imphal, Sept 10: The Manipur government has suspended mobile services in five of its 16 districts for 5 days following protests by students in the state capital on Monday and in anticipation of further deterioration of law and order.
The five districts are: Imphal West, Imphal East, Thoubal, Bishnupur, Kakching.
All the five districts are in the valley region of the state. The hilly areas have been exempted from the purview of the order.
“There is an imminent danger of loss of life and /or damage to public/private property, and wide spread disturbances to public tranquillity and communal harmony, as a result of inflammatory material and false rumours, which might be transmitted/circulated to the public through social media/ messaging services on mobile services, SMS services and dongle services,” N. Ashok Kumar, Commissioner (Home), Government of Manipur, said in an order passed on Tuesday.
Internet and mobile data services including Lease Lines, VSATs, Broadbands and VPN services have been suspended for 5 days from 3:00 P.M. of 10-09-2024 till 3:00 P.M. of 15-09-2024.
He said the steps are necessary “to thwart the design and activities of anti-national and anti-social elements and to maintain peace and communal harmony and to prevent any loss of life or danger to public/private property, it has become necessary to take adequate measures to maintain law and order in public interest, by stopping the spread of disinformation and false rumours, through various social media platform such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. on various electronic equipment like tablet, computer, mobile phone etc. and sending bulk SMS, for facilitating and/or mobilization of mobs of agitators and demonstrators, which can cause loss of life and/or damage to public/private property by indulging in arson/vandalism and other types of violent activities.”
In addition, total curfew has been imposed in atleast two districts until further orders. Total curfew has been clamped in Imphal East and Imphal West Districts, whereas, prohibitory orders have been imposed in Thoubal district.
On Monday, thousands of students took to the streets in Imphal to protest against the prevailing law and order situation in the state, demanding to restore normalcy at the earliest and removal of extra security forces from the state. Manipur has been in a civil war like situation since May 2023 due to ethnic conflict between the valley dwelling Meitei community and the hills dwelling Kuki-Zo community.
The students also tried to march into the Chief Minister’s residence and Raj Bhavan, but were stopped by security forces, who had to use force to control the situation.
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