Google Maps image locates Manipur’s Jiribam district.
About 200 civilians, mostly from the Meitei community and some from the Kuki-Zo community, were evacuated from their homes in Jiribam district of Manipur and moved to a camp for internally displaced persons over the last two days after violence broke out in the wake of locals discovering the body of a Meitei man who had gone missing weeks ago.
Soon after the body was found, civil society organisations (CSOs) reported that locals had started a protest in front of the Jiribam police station, demanding that they be allowed to protect themselves with arms. With tensions rising, the Jiribam District Magistrate imposed Section 144 in the district upon receiving a request from the Superintendent of Police.
What followed on Thursday night, Kuki-Zo CSOs said, was an attack on Uchathol Hmar Veng, Vengnuam Paite Veng and Songkoveng, three Kuki-Zo villages in Jiribam district where a church was burnt down and homes vandalised. The Kuki Inpi Manipur’s local division said 40-year-old L. Thianmuang was also abducted by armed men in black outfits, suspected to be linked to radical Meitei outfits Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun.
The DM of Tamenglong district imposed a curfew soon after across villages situated along the Tamenglong-Jiribam border.
“After the violent incidents took place, around 80 persons were rescued, of whom about 60-odd were taken to an Assam Rifles camp. On Friday, in coordination with civilians, security forces moved about 137 civilians to an IDP camp in Jiribam. No violent incident has been reported since,” sources in the security establishment told The Hindu.
The Kuki Inpi Manipur and other Kuki-Zo youth bodies issued statements condemning the killing of the Meitei man by unknown miscreants, who was identified by locals as Soibam Saratkumar Singh. They, however, added that suspected Meitei radicals had then allegedly attacked their villages despite the identity of Mr. Singh’s killers being unknown.
Seram Rojesh, convener of the Delhi Meitei Coordinating Committee, told The Hindu that Mr. Singh had been killed by armed men from the Kuki-Zo community. “This shows that when Meiteis are being attacked, instead of protecting them, the security forces are making the Meitei people leave their homes,” he said.
Mr. Rojesh said Meiteis from Morbung and Lamtai Khunou villages had been moved to community halls and other places. He said about 300 people from these villages have been evacuated.
In a statement issued by Kuki Inpi Manipur of Tamenglong, Noney and Jiribam districts on Friday, the CSO said that there seemed to be some people with vested interests who wanted to bring the Manipur crisis to Jiribam, a district that had remained relatively peaceful so far.
The ethnic conflict in Manipur between the majority Meitei community and the Scheduled Tribe Kuki-Zo community has been underway since May 3 last year. It has led to the killing of over 220 people, injured thousands of others, and internally displaced more than 50,000 people.