Churachandpur: Three days before Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to Manipur, local tribal leaders from Churachandpur walked out of the District Collector’s office Friday after having waited for two hours to meet Union Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai and Sambit Patra, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in charge of Manipur.
Rai and Patra were in Kangpokpi where, according to tribal leaders in Churachandpur, they held meetings to discuss the events that spurred a spiral of ethnic violence earlier this month.
The 20-member delegation of local tribal leaders, including six women, arrived at the Churachandpur DC’s office for the meeting at 2.30 pm with a memorandum demanding a separate administration for hill areas in Manipur. They waited for more than two hours before walking out. The venue of the meeting, which was to be held earlier at a camp of the 27 sector Assam Rifles, was shifted to the DC’s office at the last minute.
Ginza Vualzong, a member of the delegation, told ThePrint, “This is a sign of disrespect. This shows that these politicians are not serious about our concerns. We are not happy with the way they are treating us.”
Another member, Rose Ngaihte, reiterated that the meeting was supposed to be held at 2.30 pm. “They can’t make people wait endlessly,” she added.
Other members of the delegation said they had relief work to attend to and submitting their memorandum to junior leaders of the BJP would make no difference. They, however, maintained that they were willing to meet Shah, who is set to embark on a three-day visit to the state starting 29 May.
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Kuki volunteers injured, Meitei homes set ablaze
Meanwhile, incidents of violence are being reported from settlements near the Bishnupur-Churachandpur border. A volatile area, this was among the settlements where fighting between Meiteis and Kukis first erupted.
Shots were fired in the area that falls between Kwakta village in Bishnupur and Kangvai village in Churachandpur around 4 pm, shortly before the delegation of local tribal leaders walked out of the Churachandpur DC’s office. The area is just 2-3 kilometres from Torbung in Churachandpur, which has been the epicentre of violence since the conflict flared up.
Kuki villagers alleged that men in black t-shirts — hinting at the involvement of an underground Meitei group — opened fire at Kuki homes. They were accompanied by Assam Rifles, Indian Reserve Battalion, police commandos and members of the village defence forces, villagers alleged.
In response, volunteers from the local Kuki community armed with licensed weapons engaged in counterfire. Two volunteers, one of whom suffered a bullet wound in the arm and another in the leg, were taken to a hospital for treatment of bullet injuries. Later in the day, two Meitei homes were burnt down in the Mamang Leikai village, allegedly by Kukis.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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