IMPHAL, April 2: A hill based insurgent group has allegedly resorted to armed oppressive measures in a bid to disrupt the upcoming parliamentary elections and for personal political motives.
The Bharatya Janata Party, Ukhrul mandal is presently under threat and top workers of the political party have been kidnapped, reliable sources confirmed.
Since yesterday, three persons have been abducted at gunpoint from different locations.
However, late reports from SP of Ukrul confirmed that the abducted persons have been rescued by a combined team of Ukhrul police and Assam Rifles.
Ex-MLA , Dr Khasim Ruivah, 57, son of late Mainglun Ruivah , a resident of Somdal Village of Chingai Assembly Constituency, Ukhrul district has been abducted along with his son .
The incident occurred at around 6 pm on Tuesday. Dr Ruivah along with son Ashang Ruivah, 35, who is an assistant engineer of the PWD left Ukhrul for Imphal in a Bolero Jeep. When the vehicle was approaching Shokvao village located near Lambui, which is about 40 kilometres from Ukhrul. Some heavily armed persons suspected to be NSCN (IM) cadres reportedly hidden in the hilly track suddenly appeared on the road and halted the vehicle. The occupants were held at gunpoint and moments later, some cadres got inside the Bolero jeep and drove away from the area with Ruivah and his son.
Dr Khasim Ruivah first got elected in 2000 representing the Federal Party of Manipur (FPM) and won again in 2007 as an independent candidate representing Chingai assembly constituency in the Manipur Assembly.
Later onwards, he joined the NPF and was an ardent worker. But, he recently joined the BJP fold along with his workers about a month back.
He along with his workers has been campaigning for Professor Gangmumei Kamei, the BJP candidate for the 16th Lok Sabha Manipur Outer Parliamentary Constituency seat. The election is to be held on April 9.
Ruivah and his son had remained untraced since Tuesday.
While condemning the incident several workers of BJP inclusive of women gathered at Phungreitang Gandhi Chowk today evening and protested the abduction. Placards held by the protesters carried slogans like, “Upcoming Elections should be held fairly”, “Release abducted persons”, “Stop terrorizing innocents in election time” etc.
Meanwhile in another similar incident, Anam Zimik, 60, former president of Ukhrul district BJP Mandal , a resident of Hundung village was also abducted from Hamleikhong at around 7 am today.