Meitei, Hmar communities of Jiribam agree to try and prevent arson, firing at peace meeting
Jiribam district in June become the latest site of the State’s continuing ethnic conflict between the valley-based Meitei community and the hills-based Scheduled Tribe Kuki-Zo group of communities, which includes the Hmar community
A peace meeting under way on Thursday at the CRPF camp in Cachar district of Assam between leaders of Meitei and Hmar civil society organisations.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
District authorities and security forces operating in Manipur’s Jiribam district on Thursday brokered a peace meeting between the Meitei community and the Hmar community in the district, following which both communities there have agreed to try and bring normalcy and prevent arson and firing in the district.
Jiribam district had in June this year become the latest site of the State’s continuing ethnic conflict between the valley-based Meitei community and the hills-based Scheduled Tribe Kuki-Zo group of communities, which includes the Hmar community.
According to the meeting resolution signed on Thursday by leaders of both Meitei and Hmar civil society organisation in Jiribam district, a peace meeting was held on Thursday morning at the CRPF camp in Cachar district, moderated by officials of the district administration, police, CRPF, and Assam Rifles.
In addition to key civil society organisations of the Meitei community and the Hmar community in Jiribam, representatives of other Kuki-Zo tribes like the Paite, Thadou, and Mizo communities were also present at the meeting.
The resolutions said that both sides had agreed to provide “full cooperation to all security forces” operating in Jiribam; facilitate “controlled and coordinated movements”; and meet again on August 15.
After the bodies of a Kuki-Zo man and a Meitei man were found in Jiribam district within weeks of each other, the district had seen a spate of arson and firing incidents, one of which had led to the death of a CRPF constable on July 14. Till June, the district had largely remained peaceful.
The spate of arson that started in Jiribam on June 6 had led to the displacement of over 2,000 people from both Meitei and Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities from their homes in the district. While the Meitei people were moved into relief camps in Jiribam town area, the Kuki-Zo-Hmar people fled across the border to Assam and are being housed in relief camps in Cachar district.
In Jiribam district, both the Meitei and Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities are in the minority, with Bengali Hindus and Muslims comprise the majority of the population. Among the Kuki-Zo communities, Jiribam has a higher proportion of Hmar people.
Ever since the disturbance hit the district, the administration and security forces have been attempting to broker peace meetings with communities on both sides of the conflict, with sources saying that the meetings had to be moved to neighbouring Assam’s Cachar district to protect the peace process.
Meanwhile, in Imphal East’s Akampat area, Meitei residents of a relief camp for those displaced in the conflict took out a protest rally demanding that they be allowed to go back to their homes.
According to local reports and some protesters, the demonstrators were allegedly dispersed using tear gas shells and brute force. During this time, a local broadcast journalist was also allegedly assaulted, according to a memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister by the All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union and the Editors Guild Manipur.
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