New Delhi: Manipur residents will continue to endure a ban on internet services till May 26 because of a fresh government order, taking the number of days with no internet access in the state to 23.
The order was issued by the Manipur government’s home department secretariat and said the ban was being extended to prevent violent incidents sparked by the online circulation of false rumours.
“Director General of Police, Manipur … reported that there are still reports of incidents like arson of houses and premises … 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 [platforms] … ” the order read.
The #ManipurBurning situation is extremely grim. Deserves much more attention. pic.twitter.com/Ha67ytyOUI
— Rajat Pandit (@rajatpTOI) May 22, 2023
Workers’ organisations in Manipur have raised concerns about businesses and online workers losing their jobs due to the unavailability of internet in the state for over three weeks.
“If there are fears of rumours being spread through social media that could escalate the violence in the state, the government or the authority, with their experts, may block all social media sites and public VPN by instructing all the internet service providers (ISPs) to do the same,” Moraingthem Sudhakar, a spokesperson for All Manipur Remote Working Professionals, was quoted saying by the Imphal Free Press.
He added that the government ought to provide an internet-connected workplace for the state’s professionals as many are on the verge of losing their jobs.
The Manipur government first banned internet services on May 3 after ethnic violence broke out between the state’s numerically dominant Meitei community and its tribal communities, killing 71 people and displacing 26,000 others.
A few days before that, the Manipur High Court directed the state government to recommend that the Union tribal affairs ministry grant Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the Meiteis.
Having ST status would entitle the Meiteis to reservations in public jobs and educational institutes, and give them access to forest lands. But the state’s existing tribal communities fear that this will reduce the reservation available to them and endanger the lands they have lived on for centuries.
A protest against such an outcome started the violence.
However, Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh displayed a different understanding of events when he said on Sunday, May 21, that the unrest in the state was not due to a “fight between communities,” but instead because of resistance to the government’s policy of forest conservation and poppy clearing, reports by the Indian Express and Imphal Free Press said.