New Delhi: The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), which the Meitei community’s umbrella body, has called a 48-hour shutdown across the state. The shutdown began from the midnight of Wednesday as a mark of protest against the reported removal of the signage containing the ‘Manipur’ word from a state transport bus by security personnel.
On May 20, a media team from the state’s capital Imphal was going to cover the five-day-long Shirui Lily Festival’s opening ceremony, being held at the Ukhrul district in Manipur. But security personnel blocked their bus in Imphal East district’s Gwaltabi, forcing the team to return. Some volunteers of the lily festival had said there was concern about possible attacks on members of the Meitei community at some isolated stretches of the highway.
The Manipur Working Journalists Union (AMWJU) and Editors Guild Manipur sent a joint letter to Governor of the state Ajay Kumar Bhalla and said the media team was instructed by the security personnel to hide the signage “Manipur State Transport Corporation” which was placed on the front of the bus. With a white sticky tape, the word ‘Manipur’ was covered.
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The AMWJU and EGM declared a “pen down” protest against it which they deemed to be disrespectful behaviour by the security personnel towards people of Manipur and also the press. The state government on Wednesday formed a inquiry committee of two members to investigate the incident. It is expected that the committee will submit its report within 15 days. The state Chief Secretary Prashant Kumar Singh said in an order that the committee will probe and also suggest ways to prevent the occurrence of such a situation again. Notably, Manipur was hit by violence and has been under President’s Rule.
