Weapons recovered by security forces in Manipur.
Credit: Assam Rifles
Guwahati: Burnt bodies of two elderly men belonging to the Meitei community were recovered on Tuesday while six others remained missing in the conflict-torn Manipur's Jiribam district amid a curfew and "general shutdown" called by several Kuki-Zo organisations.
The Inspector General of Manipur police, IK Muivah told reporters in Imphal on Tuesday that the two bodies were found during a search carried out after the killing of 10 armed men, who allegedly attacked a police station and CRPF camp on Monday afternoon. "The bodies have been sent for postmortem while search is underway for the six persons, comprising three women and three minors," he said.
Meitei organisations announced a "general shutdown" in the Imphal Valley on Wednesday demanding whereabouts of the six persons suspecting that they were abducted by Kuki-Zo militants in Jiribam. They said that the two men, Laishram Balen and Maibam Kesho, died after Kuki-Zo militants set fire on several shops and houses in Jakuradhor Karong area before they were gunned down by the security forces.
Muivah said the 10 persons who were killed were suspected to be militants as they were carrying sophisticated weapons like AK series, INSAS rifles and rocket propelled grenades and were wearing camouflage. Kuki-Zo organisations, on the other hand, claimed that those killed were not militants but "village volunteers" belonging to the Hmar community, who were "defending" their villages against possible attacks by the Meiteis. They said that the "village volunteers" gathered following information about entry of armed men belonging to Arambai Tenggol, a Meitei radical group, into the police station but they were gunned down by the CRPF and Manipur police. Hmars are part of the greater Kuki-Zo communities.
KSO diktat to CRPF:
As anger among the Kuki-Zo communities ran high over the killings, Kuki Students' Organisations (KSO) on Tuesday issued a statement in which it "directed" the CRPF personnel not to move out of their camps. "Any CRPF personnel found in violation of this notice shall do so at their own risk and responsibility," it said. The KSO demanded that CRPF must apologise for killing the Hmar youths in Jiribam on Monday. The Kuki-Zo organisations asked why the CRPF attacked them despite the fact that they considered the central forces as a shield against attack by the Meiteis.
Tension gripped Jiribam since Thursday when a 31-year-old Hmar woman teacher was allegedly raped and burned alive by suspected Meitei insurgents.
Manipur has remained roiled in the Meitei-Kuki conflict since May last year in which nearly 240 people have been killed and over 60,000 others displaced. Sporadic incidents of violence have continued despite the presence of a large number of security forces including the army.