Manipur the aftermath efforts to move on remembering good samaritans prayers for ravaged home

Manipur the aftermath efforts to move on remembering good samaritans prayers for ravaged home

Guwahati: As the death toll in Manipur ethnic clashes crossed 70 last week, a sense of fear and uncertainty grips people from both Kuki and Meitei communities. The mistrust runs deep in the aftermath of the clashes this month, and it is likely to take massive efforts by the Centre and the state government to try bridge the divide.

More than 46,000 people have been evacuated to relief camps so far, with about 3,000 others evacuated to other states in special flights. As many as 385 FIRs have been lodged across the state and 456 stolen arms recovered, security adviser to Manipur government, Kuldiep Singh, told media in Imphal Sunday.

On Monday, moments after Manipur CM N. Biren Singh returned from Delhi to announce that “there is no such situation that will affect or alter the integrity of the state”, 10 Chin-Kuki-Mizo-Zomi-Hmar legislators, including seven from the BJP, wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah demanding “separation from the state of Manipur”.

“There are no tribals left in Imphal valley, there are no Meiteis left in the Hills,” they wrote, blaming the Manipur government and its police for the “pogrom against the Kuki tribals”.

The Meiteis, the Nagas, and the Kuki-Chin-Mizo or the Kukis are the three main ethnic groups in Manipur. While the Meiteis inhabiting the central Valley belong to the general category, the tribals (Scheduled Tribes) living in the Hill districts belong to two groups — the Naga and Kuki.

Terming the ethnic conflict “premeditated”, the legislators stated that Kuki colonies and houses were marked — aided by a survey done some years ago by “radicalised Meitei groups” — and attacked in Imphal city.

“No resignations have been announced yet, but we are ready, if that’s what it takes,” one of the BJP MLAs in the ten-member group told ThePrint.