Another 11 Kuki were killed in Jiribam district: police say they were “militias”, but the Tribal Leaders Forum says it was a deliberate attack on “volunteers patrolling villages” following last week’s attacks. Monsignor Linus Neli: “May we soon return to a normal life”
Imphal () – “The situation has worsened again. We pray that we can return to a normal and peaceful life,” Msgr. Linus Neli, archbishop of Imphal, told in relation to the new escalation in the northeastern state of Manipur, which has been engulfed for more than a year and a half. in violence due to clashes between the Meitei, the predominantly Hindu population living on the plain, and the predominantly Christian Kuki tribals living in the hills.
The last serious episode occurred on November 11, when 11 Kuki were shot dead in Jiribam district. Local police claim they were attacking the head of the Central Reserve Police Force, who reacted by killing the “militiamen” and recovering weapons in his possession. This reconstruction, however, has been harshly questioned by the Kuki, who yesterday closed the hill areas in protest, while the authorities imposed a curfew.
According to the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum, those killed were local volunteers from the Hmar ethnic village and were patrolling to protect their community following a recent attack in which a tribal woman was killed. The Hmar Students Association condemned the incident, calling it a “premeditated massacre” by security forces in collaboration with “Meitei militants.”
On Sunday, other clashes had already occurred in the Sanasabi rice fields, in the East Imphal district: alleged Kuki militants had attacked farmers harvesting rice in the Meitei-inhabited areas of Sanasabi Loukol and in the nearby village of Thamnapokpi. The police responded to the attack with an exchange of fire that lasted 40 minutes and during which one officer was injured.
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