One of the protesters, Takhellambam ongbi Sumila Devi, told the media on the sidelines of the protest that one Koijam Inaobi was picked up by a team of commando, Imphal East district around 10 am on Thursday. While he was picked up by the commando team, no arrest memo was issued to the family members and the reason for the arrest was also not disclosed, she said.

Sumila Devi said that Inaobi used to be a member of an insurgent group. However, he surrendered himself to the government around 30 years ago in order to live a normal life in the society. Since then, he has been providing passenger service by driving an auto rickshaw for nearly 30 years, she added.

Noting that Chief Minister N Biren Singh has been encouraging the insurgents to come back to mainstream on various platforms, Sumila questioned whether the encouragement to return to mainstream life is to harass them whenever the government wants.

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She urged the state government to arrest culprits but not the innocent people who are leading a normal life in the society.

She further contended that the same commando team also enquired about another person from the locality named Keisham Bijoy, who was also a member of an insurgent group but has been providing school van service after he surrendered himself to the government around 30 years ago.

As Bijoy was away, the team did not arrest Bijoy, however, they told the family members to come to Porompat police station, Sumila told.

Maintaining that the locals considered them as civilians and not related to any insurgent groups as the duo have been living along with the locality for more than 30 years in normal life, she said that the Meira Paibis staged the protest demanding immediate release of Inaobi.

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