Males Carrying Assault Rifles ‘Play’ Soccer In Manipur. Video Viral
Imphal/New Delhi:
A person in a fluorescent inexperienced soccer jersey got here strolling in direction of the digicam. In knee-high socks and operating shorts, he appeared prepped for a soccer match on the dusty floor. However this ‘soccer participant’ carried two automated assault rifles – one slung from the best shoulder, the opposite in hand. He raised the gun and laughed.
This ‘soccer match warmup’ video first appeared in an Instagram publish by a social media influencer from Manipur’s Kangpokpi district. It has gone viral now.
The visuals confirmed a dozen males in soccer kits carrying AK and American-origin M collection assault rifles, kicking a soccer round. The weapons have pink ribbons tied across the barrel.
An occasion poster seen within the video confirmed the place as (L) Nohjang Kipgen Memorial Playground, Ok Gamnomphai. There’s a village which locals establish as ‘Gamnomphai’ in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district, some 30 km from the state capital Imphal.
The phrase ‘Sanakhang’ is written on the entrance aspect of the soccer jerseys, and one of many males carrying an AK assault rifle has the identify ‘Ginna Kipgen’ written on the again of his jersey. He’s participant No. 15.
The textual content on the occasion poster seen within the video confirmed the soccer match started on January 20.
The social media influencer, Nampi Romeo Hansong, deleted the Instagram video which carried the watermark ‘Kukiland’ and a hashtag in his identify. Mr Hansong, who has 11,000 followers, later posted a brief video of the soccer match on Instagram – with out the lads carrying assault rifles.
On his YouTube channel, which has 1.09 lakh subscribers, he posted a virtually six-minute-long video exhibiting the lads with weapons — from the sooner video that he deleted — for the primary three seconds.
The video was additional edited and up to date to take away the lads carrying weapons. NDTV has a duplicate of the unique video.
Whereas the remainder of the video has cultural performances and scenes from the soccer match, closely armed males in darkish inexperienced battledress are seen dancing on the venue in direction of the top of the video. Their helmets and shoulder patches carried a pink emblem normally seen worn by militants of the Kuki Nationwide Entrance (P), or KNF-P, whose turf is Kangpokpi.
A civil society organisation of the Meitei group in a publish on X requested the authorities to “examine this open show of assault rifles”.
“This video of a soccer match in Manipur has gone viral on social media. What’s deeply disturbing is the open show of subtle weapons by the so-called footballers. Or is it a soccer match of Kuki Militants? We urge the authorities to analyze this open show of assault rifles,” the Meitei Heritage Society mentioned.
This video of a soccer match in Manipur has gone viral on social media. What’s deeply disturbing is the open show of subtle weapons by the so known as footballers. Or is it a soccer match of Kuki Militants?
We urge the authorities to analyze this… pic.twitter.com/3IC5uY9BkH
— Meitei Heritage Society (@meiteiheritage) February 6, 2025
The ‘P’ in KNF-P means “president”; it’s used to point KNF-P is the unique KNF, therefore the letter “president”, the supreme. The KNF was based in 1987. In 1994, it break up into two factions i.e. KNF-MC led by SK Kipgen, and the unique turned KNF-P led by ST Thangboi Kipgen.
So, KNF is the KNF-P; the remainder are its factions.
The KNF is a signatory to the controversial suspension of operations (SoO) settlement signed between practically two dozen Kuki militant teams and the state and the centre.
Beneath SoO, the militants are to remain at designated camps and their weapons stored in locked, monitored storage.
The Manipur authorities has been asking the joint monitoring group, which critiques the SoO settlement yearly, to scrap it for good, over allegations that the SoO teams have been concerned within the Manipur violence from the start. The SoO settlement lapsed in February this 12 months.
The Kuki tribes and the Meiteis have been combating since Might 2023 over a variety of points akin to land rights and political illustration.
Manipur’s Gun Downside
In 2023, the 12 months the Manipur violence started, younger males armed with automated assault rifles from each communities have been continuously seen roaming within the open. A whole bunch of movies have surfaced on social media.
Members of the Meitei militia Arambai Tenggol armed with military-grade grenade launchers and AKs have been usually seen ‘patrolling’ the foothills, whereas their Kuki counterparts have been seen in bunkers on the hilltops with related weapons.
Either side declare they’re “village volunteers”.
With the safety forces and the federal government authorities themselves utilizing the phrase “village volunteers”, these teams of younger folks could have turn into an increasing number of assured of exhibiting off deadly weapons and normalising the act within the absence of efficient deterrence, native activists have alleged.
Many senior officers of the safety forces have publicly mentioned militants from each side are concerned within the Manipur violence. These embrace violations of the SoO settlement by Kuki militants, and Meitei militants who had been dormant for the final 10 years returning to Manipur from war-torn Myanmar.
