Altogether 24 persons were rounded up on Friday morning during combing operations at Uripok in Imphal. The personnel of Imphal West district commandos and 4 Indian Reserve Battalion conducted the search operations in the three localities in Imphal on receipt of intelligence reports on the presence of undesirable elements. 16 of them were non-locals and it is feared that they may be foreigners.
The residents were summoned at the community hall at Uripok for verification by the commandos. These 16 non-Manipuris could not establish their identity and nationality. They had been handed over to the police station for further verification.
It may be recalled that many sections of the people have been agitating all these weeks demanding the reintroduction of the Inner Line Permit system in the state. The government had abolished it from Manipur on November 18, 1950. People intercepted one truck a few days back along highway which was bringing migrant workers from Assam to Manipur. Since most of the workers had no identity papers the angry people torched the truck. Police are verifying the identity and nationality of these migrant workers.
ADVERTISEMENT