Manipur Governor extends deadline to surrender looted weapons

Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla on Friday extended by one week the deadline to surrender looted and illegal weapons and ammunition to the security forces. The previous one-week deadline ended Thursday. The new deadline is March 6, and the governor said no punitive action would be taken against those who voluntarily surrender weapons during this period. After that, "strict legal action would be taken as per law...," he warned.

More than 610 looted and illegally held weapons, including sophisticated arms, and a huge cache of ammunition were returned to security forces till February 27, after the governor made the first appeal on February 20, a senior police officer said.

Governor Bhalla in his fresh appeal said: "The request (on February 20) has yielded a positive response. Upon expiry of the seven days' deadline for voluntary surrender of such arms, there has been demand from both valley and hill areas to extend the period for surrender. I have considered the request and decided to extend the deadline up to 4 pm of March 6 for voluntary surrender of such arms."


He said this would be last opportunity to surrender such weapons and that the police and security forces would take up extensive search operations after the end of the deadline.

Firing incident

Miscreants opened fire at devotees and the priest at the Kongba Maru temple at Imphal East in Manipur. No one was injured in the firing. Police have arrested four people in connection with the shooting.