If the first two-odd months of year 2005 are any indication, themilitancy-ridden state of Manipur appears to be moving into an even more viciouscycle of violence. 74 fatalities have been reported in 132 militancy-relatedincidents between January 1 and March 10, 2005. Militants account for more thanhalf of the fatalities with a total of 39 deaths, but there were 25 civilianfatalities as well. In comparison, the entire year 2004 - which saw significantescalation as a result of enormous political mismanagement and widespread civildisturbances - was witness to 219 insurgency-related deaths (Civilians-50;Security Forces (SF)-41; Militants-128). Year 2003 had seen198 fatalities (27civilians, 23 SFs, 148 militants).
Visibly, the current fatalities within militant ranks have been the result ofcontinuous military operations since September 2004 in a 'synchronisedonslaught', for which some successes have been claimed, though 10 SF personnelhave already fallen to militant attacks. But the claims of SF 'successes' areambiguous at best.