4 more killed as violence continues in Manipur

July 3: Kuki rebel groups announced on Sunday that they would lift the two-month-long blockade of the national highway in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district, paving the way for the reopening of a critical lifeline of the state. However, incidents of violence continued in Manipur, with at least four people having been killed on Sunday, including one case where police said the victim had been beheaded.

National Highway-2, connecting Imphal with Dimapur in Nagaland, has been blockaded since violence broke out in Manipur on May 3, impacting the flow of essential supplies. The blockade had been temporarily lifted in early June after Union Home Minister Amit Shah made an appeal during his visit to the state. It was, however, reimposed a few days later when three people from the Kuki-Zomi community were killed in Kangpokpi district on June 9.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the United People’s Front and the Kuki National Organisation — both of which come under the 2008 Suspension of Operations agreement with the Centre and the state — said the blockade would be lifted with immediate effect “to ensure uninterrupted supply of essential commodities in the state”. The statement said the decision was taken in view of Shah’s “deep concern to restore peace and harmony in the state and [to] alleviate the plight of people in general”.

In the statement, the groups also said they “appreciate” that central forces have been deployed in most areas at the border of the hills and the valley, and that they would ensure that their volunteers are withdrawn from all such places once the “deployment of central forces is completed in all vulnerable areas”.

The statement also made an appeal to all “peace-loving organizations and citizens in the state of Manipur” to “reciprocate” their gesture and “take steps towards peace and communal harmony in the state”.

The previous evening, Chief Minister Biren Singh had said that he had spoken to members of the Kuki community that day in an effort to work towards peace and reconciliation.

“I spoke to some brothers and sisters from the Kuki community on the telephone and said that what has happened has happened. Now is the time to forgive and forget, reconcile and live together,” he had said on Saturday evening, speaking to ANI.

However, the situation continued to remain volatile in the state. A man, identified as David Thiek, was killed and beheaded in Langza – a Hmar-Kuki village – in the Churachandpur district on Sunday. According to local residents, the village came under attack in the early hours of Sunday, and while most of the village residents fled, a few village volunteers stayed back. Thiek, one of the volunteers, was killed during the attack.

“They started burning the villages at 3-4 am. We consist of around 23-24 villages, and we were told by our Hmar chief to vacate the villages and take our important documents. However, to prevent our houses from getting looted, we had kept three to four young men to guard the villages,” a resident said.

Police confirmed that the man had been beheaded.

In Khoijumantabi in the Bishnupur district in the valley, at the border with the hill district of Churachandpur, three people from the Meitei community died in an incident of firing. The deceased were identified as Ningombam Ibomcha (34), Naorem Rajkumar (26), and Haobam Ibocha (44).

Police said the incident took place at around midnight, when “armed miscreants coming from adjoining hills fired at the village volunteers” who were stationed in Khoijumantabi hills. After this, the district administration reduced the curfew relaxation in Bishnupur district to just five hours – between 5 am and 10 am.