Seven schools set on fire in Manipur

IMPHAL:Seven government higher secondary schools in three hill districts of Manipur were set on fire on Wednesday, prompting the authorities to beef up security measures
in the state.
    
The motive behind the incident or the identity of the miscreants was not immediately known, official reports said adding no individual or group has claimed responsibility.
    
Activists of a hill-based students' organisation which wanted affiliation of schools in Manipur hill districts to the Nagaland Board of Secondary Education were, however,
suspected to be behind the incidents.
    
Official sources said major portions of three government schools in Senapati district and two each in Chandel and Ukhrul districts were gutted in the fire by unidentified
persons.
   
Security measures and patrolling were intensified in Tamenglong hill district following apprehensions that they might also attempt to do the same there, official reports
said.
   
Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh and Education Minister L Jayantakumar Singh have appealed to the people not to launch any violent agitation but to protect the educational
institutions in the interest of the students' community.
   
Adequate security measures would be taken at all vulnerable places where miscreants might attempt to set afire educational institutions both in the valley and the hill
areas, the sources said.