Militants target cellphone firms in Manipur

Samudra Gupta Kashyap

Several thousand subscribers of various mobile phone services in Manipur have lost connectivity while over four lakh are likely to be affected in the next few days with all the five mobile phone service providers operating in the state having threatened to shut down shop following threats, attacks and extortion notices from different militant groups in the past few weeks.

Reports from Imphal said while Airtel had already shut down its towers in most of the outlying districts, only those customers located in Imphal were currently being able to use their services. While different militant groups have demanded huge sums of money from the mobile phone service providers in the state, at least two employees of two different companies have been shot in the past two weeks. The police have so far registered as many as six cases of extortion and threats, but no arrests have been made as yet.

While Oinam Borobabu Singh, watchman of a mobile tower was killed at a locality called Wangkehi Wangkheimayum in Imphal on Monday, an Airtel tower tower was torched at Langol on Friday. On March 28, a Vodafone BTS caretaker was shot in Imphal East district.

Sources said top executives of all the five private mobile companies operating in Manipur are flying down to Imphal on Wednesday to meet the Chief Minister in order to find a solution to the problem. The five private companies that operate in Manipur in addition to BSNL are Airtel, Aircel, Vodafone, Reliance and Tata Indicom.

Reports from Imphal said more than one underground group had slammed extortion notices on the mobile companies, asking them to shut down if they were unable to pay. Retailers too have stopped selling recharge vouchers for fear of being targeted.

In February, the outlawed Kangleipak Communist Party (Military Council) had ‘banned’ all mobile companies in Manipur and asked them to dismantle their towers. Militant groups attacked at least 10 mobile towers in Manipur last year, while 17 towers belonging to Tata Tele Services were damaged during 2009.