The state of Manipur experienced a new round of violence on Sunday, leaving at least two dead, including a policeman, in two separate instances of firing, one day before Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s planned trip there, his first since hostilities broke out there on May 3. While claiming that security forces had so far killed about 40 Kuki insurgents who, according to Chief Minister Biren Singh, were targeting civilians, this information was released concurrently.
The time frame in which the insurgents were slain was not mentioned by Singh.
As fresh arson and firing incidents began in the early hours of Sunday, a civilian was killed by militants in a village in Imphal West district and a police personnel was killed and another injured at Sugnu in Kakching district in an exchange of fire with the insurgents.
Officials said more than a dozen people were injured in separate instances of firing upon civilians and clashes between militants and security forces through the day.
After the large-scale violence that engulfed the state for three days since May 3 subsided, sporadic incidents of shooting and arson had continued to take place over the past three weeks, particularly in the foothill areas where the Meitei-dominated valley meets Kuki-Zomi-dominated hills.
On the intervening night of May 27 and May 28, violence broke out in multiple such areas, including Sekmai, Phayeng, Torbung, Yaingangpokpi, Serou Lamkhai and Sugnu, and continued into the day. Following the fresh violence, authorities lifted curfew relaxations in Imphal West and Imphal East districts.
New roadblocks have also sprung up at areas manned by women.
There was also an unconfirmed report of arms being looted from Kakching police station by a Meitei group, the official said.
Ethnic clashes which have claimed over 75 lives first broke out in Manipur after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts on May 3 to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
The violence was preceded by tension over the eviction of Kuki villagers from reserve forest land, which had led to a series of smaller agitations.
“According to our information, firing has been reported from Sugnu in Kakching, Kangvi in Churachandpur, Kangchup in Imphal West, Sagolmang in Imphal East, Nungoipokpi in Bishenpur, Khurkhul in Imphal West and YKPI in Kangpokpi,” said an official earlier in the day.
Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribal Nagas and Kukis constitute another 40 per cent of the population and reside in the hill districts.