{"id":93645,"date":"2024-07-13T01:24:04","date_gmt":"2024-07-13T01:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/13\/manipur-barber-shops-decide-to-down-shutters-indefinitely-after-multiple-extortion-threats\/"},"modified":"2024-07-13T01:24:04","modified_gmt":"2024-07-13T01:24:04","slug":"manipur-barber-shops-decide-to-down-shutters-indefinitely-after-multiple-extortion-threats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/13\/manipur-barber-shops-decide-to-down-shutters-indefinitely-after-multiple-extortion-threats\/","title":{"rendered":"Manipur: Barber shops decide to down shutters indefinitely after multiple extortion threats"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Manipur:<\/div>\n
Facing multiple extortion threats the barber shops in Manipur<\/a> have resolved to put shutters down indefinitely.<\/p>\n

After an emergency meeting held on Thursday, the Manipur Barbers’ Association (MBA) has resolved to close down all of their barber shops until further notice.<\/p>\n

MBA informed that the emergency meeting was convened to discuss the harassment and extortion faced by daily wage earning barbers.<\/p>\n

The MBA stated that the decision to close down the shops was not taken against any group or organisations.”The decision was taken as the daily wage earning barbers were unable to pay the innumerable monetary demands from various groups”, it added.<\/p>\n

Extortion in Manipur has many manifestations, the organisation now asks traders and businessmen to sponsor nothing less than arms.<\/p>\n

During the violence several organizations or fringe elements propped up, these organizations self-styled themselves as civil society groups. They espouse the cause of fighting for their respective communities and operate like armed cadres of a militia. A Thoubal based businessman, who does not want to be named, told ET, ” A got a call from a popular organization in the valley asking me to get AK 47 for it. I said I have no knowledge of arms and how much it cost. They told me it will cost in the range of Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 Lakh. They keep on following up with phone calls. “Another trader who deals in groceries said, ” Some militant outfits have proposed to charge per truck entering the valley. They say it is similar to what is being charged by militants in Nagaland. They are charging around Rs 20,000 per truck entering the valley. “<\/p>\n

A businessman said that owing to repeated demand notice he has shifted his base from Manipur. ” How much will one pay to fringe elements, one group charges for shops, other for go downs and other for residential places. Our repeated plea with the administration has gone unheard. Police take away cadres of those elements and within 15 minutes they are out of police custody. Next day they again come knocking at the shop or business establishment.”<\/p>\n

Long spell of violence in Manipur has reignited the militant outfits in Manipur. The businessmen and trader community are bearing the brunt of repeated extortion demands.<\/p>\n

While a series of curfews and unrest has hard hit the normal business, extortion demand from militant outfits and its overground organisations adding to the woes of traders and businessmen.<\/p>\n

A trader based in Imphal said, \u201cManipur has had scores of militant outfits over the years extortion from militant outfits have drastically come down. The violence which broke out of May 3 has brought back the extortion spree. Almost every day we get extortion demand from one or the other outfits and overground outfits.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cWe have approached security forces, but they are helpless. On a couple of occasions, patrol and security pickets are posted however things are back to the same. We are witnessing a situation when there was an extortion spree in 2007-08.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another businessman said, \u201cEarlier settlers businessmen were targeted for extortion now the situation is businessmen from across different communities are targeted. It is impossible to meet the demands ranging from Rs five to Rs 10 lakhs for different outfits.\u201d<\/p>\n

A trader in Thoubal said, \u201c We have no other option but to relocate. Owing to curfews and violence for several days there is hardly any business activity, and, in this situation, it is almost impossible to comply with the different extortion demands. Cadres approach us with arms in shops and godowns.\u201d <\/p>\n

He said, \u201cEven grenades are planted when the extortion is not complied. At times the militants come in the fatigues of security forces. Even the traders outside Manipur are not keen to do business with us as there is huge uncertainty on the law-and-order front.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manipur has several Kuki<\/a> militant outfits and valley-based outfits. Sources in security agencies in the wake of violence valley based outfits such as the United National Liberation Front(UNLF) People\u2019s Liberation Army (PLA) Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) have become active.<\/p>\n

Manipur has witnessed repeated incidents of arms loot since May 3 last year. At least 220 people have been killed, 1,500 injured and 60,000 displaced since violence broke out between the Meitei<\/a> and Kuki-Zomi communities on May 3 last year.<\/p>\n

The riots began after a \u2018Tribal Solidarity March\u2019 was organised in the hill districts to protest the Meitei community\u2019s demand for Scheduled Tribe status.
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Facing multiple extortion threats the barber shops in Manipur have resolved to put shutters down indefinitely. After an emergency meeting held on Thursday, the Manipur Barbers’ Association (MBA) has resolved to close down all of their barber shops until further notice. MBA informed that the emergency meeting was convened to discuss the harassment and extortion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img.etimg.com\/photo\/msid-111694083,imgsize-32722.cms","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[602],"tags":[79839,263,39669,12058,41719,6550,79838,44682,28341,40942,93,12208,55868,9705],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93645"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93645"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93647,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93645\/revisions\/93647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}