Monday , December 23 2024

Violence again in Manipur after election results, militants set houses on fire, demanded weapons

Manipur Violence: More than 200 people of the Meitei community were evacuated from their village and moved to a newly built relief camp after violence broke out in Manipur's Jiribam district after alleged extremists killed a man, officials said on Saturday.

Suspected militants set on fire the houses of people living in relief camps at Lamtai Khunou, Dibong Khunou, Nunkhal and Jiri Sports Complex in Begra village on the outskirts of Jiribam district.

The displaced live 30 km away from the city

Officials said most of the newly displaced people were living in a village more than 30 km from Jiribam town. They said more security personnel had been sent to the area. Manipur police ordered state police commando personnel deployed in the Imphal valley to immediately move to Jiribam for duty on Saturday.

Soibam Sarathkumar goes missing from the farm

Tension prevailed in Manipur's Jiribam district on Thursday evening when a 59-year-old man of one community was allegedly killed by militants of another community, police said.

The man, Soibam Sarathkumar Singh, went missing after he went to his farm in the morning. A police officer said that later, injury marks from a sharp object were found on his body. He said that after the incident, angry locals set fire to an empty structure.

People demonstrated for the return of weapons

The locals also staged a protest in front of the Jiribam police station and demanded that the licensed firearms taken from them in the wake of the election be returned to them after the polls.

Jiribam, which has a diverse gender composition of Meitei, Muslim, Naga, Kuki and non-Manipuri people, has been affected by the gender conflict that has been going on in Manipur since May last year. More than 200 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless due to gender conflict between the Meitei people of the Imphal valley and the Kuki people of the hills.