133 Manipur villagers displaced by ethnic conflict in Jiribam return home
They had been evacuated from Mongbung village on June 6 after arson and violence broke out following the disappearance and murder of a man.
Meitei villagers are returning home to Mongbung.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
In joint efforts led by the district administration of Manipur’s Jiribam, along with the security forces posted in the area, 133 Meitei villagers returned to their homes in Mongbung village, where last month a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) constable was killed in a gunfight, officials said on Tuesday (August 6) night.
Jiribam district had 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-Hmar group of communities.
Superintendent of Police, Jiribam, M. Pradip Singh told The Hindu, “After continuous joint efforts by the district administration, Jiribam Police, Assam Rifles and the CRPF, the authorities in Jiribam have now facilitated the homecoming of these Meitei villagers.”
These villagers were first evacuated from the Mongbung area on June 6 after arson and violence broke out following the disappearance and murder of a Meitei man named Soibam Saratkumar Singh.
Meitei villagers are returning home to Mongbung.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
They were being housed at the relief camp set up at the Chingdong Leikai Primary School and had written petitions to the district administration seeking adequate security to return to their homes. The villagers were escorted by the commanding officers of the Assam Rifles and the CRPF, the DC, and the SP of Jiribam.
Mr. Singh said the deployment of security forces in the Mongbung Sejang area of Jiribam had been readjusted. “It is now being manned by joint forces of the Assam Rifles and the CRPF — in both the Kuki-Zo and the Meitei areas of the Mongbung village,” he said.
One source in the security establishment said, “It has been challenging for the security forces. On the one hand, the Meitei villagers wanted more CRPF presence to feel safe and Kuki-Zo villagers wanted more presence of Assam Rifles. But the authorities have been speaking to all the communities to make them understand and the current arrangement has been put in place.”
The Assam Rifles said that the recent peace agreement signed between Meitei and Hmar people of Jiribam on August 1 had “paved the way for peace in Jiribam”.
While the Meitei and Hmar communities living in Jiribam had signed a resolution promising to try and bring peace on August 1, the Hmar Inpui, the apex tribe body of the Hmars in Manipur, issued a statement the very next day disowning its leaders in the district who had participated in the peace processes and dissolving its entire organisation in the district.
A month after violence broke out in Jiribam, on July 14, a joint team of the Manipur Police and the CRPF had entered parts of the Mongbung village for an operation.
Once the team reached the Mongbung village, they were fired upon from higher ground, and in the ensuing gunfight, a CRPF constable, Ajay Kumar Jha, was killed, and at least two more police personnel were injured.
Just days before, the Assam Rifles had decided to remove a checkpost it was manning near the entrance to the village as part of trust-building measures. The police were informed not to venture beyond municipal limits without intimating the Assam Rifles.
Read Comments
- Copy link
- Telegram
READ LATER
Remove
SEE ALL
PRINT
Related Topics
Manipur
/
civil unrest