Kangpokpi: Countering the narrative of alleged Kuki militants involved in attacking Meitei people in the Khamenlok incident, Khamenlok area villages’ chiefs demanded the Governments allow the Suspension of Operations (SoO) groups to protect locals if the security forces are unable to discharge their duty.
In the aftermath of the Khamenlok violence incident where around ten villages were burnt down, the villages’ chief of the Khamenlok area jointly condemned the incident in the strongest term and also criticised the alleged false and misleading media reports over the incident.
The Khamenlok area villages’ chiefs alleged that thousands of heavily-armed Meitei militants, including the banned UNLF cadres and militias aided by armed personnel drawn from Manipur Police Commandos and the IRB, attacked villages under Khamenlok area in Saikul Sub Division of Kangpokpi for three days between June 12 and 14, leading to the destruction of villages namely H. Khopibung, Khamenlok, Chullouphai, Aigejang, A. Leikot, A. Phainom, Thombol, T. Jordanphai, Songjang and Govajang.
The villages’ chiefs also categorically described the attack and destruction as a “calculated state-sponsored design” at displacing them from their homeland.
The chiefs also pointed at the “‘”valiant defence of our villages with every weapon at our disposal,” including locally-made piped guns and licensed SBBL guns. They said they have not been able to withstand the “tide of thousands of armed Meitei militants aided by Manipur state police commandos and IRB that finally led to the destruction of ten villages in the area.”
“While we have escaped with our lives to seek refuge in neighbouring Kuki villages, we can say with pride that our defiant defence of our villages has led to several casualties on our side and there is the death of scores of well-armed Meiteis who have been terrorising our areas since the morning of June 12,” the chiefs stated.
The chiefs then stated that while they were busy defending our villages, “the media houses based at Imphal Valley controlled by the Meiteis have painted us to be Kuki militants with spins as absurd as to say that we were the attackers of this terror campaign unleashed upon us, for no fault of ours other than to belong to the minority Kuki Tribes.”
“While the lies and fabrication of facts and circumstances of Meitei print media houses were expected, the fact that the celebrated print media houses such as ‘The Hindu’, ‘The Indian Express’, etc. would spin the Meitei narrative of being the victims of Kukis attack is unfathomable,” the chiefs stated.
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“The Hindu in its article ‘Manipur Violence: at least 11 killed in late night attack in Khamenlok‘ painted the Khamenlok area Village Defense Volunteers as Kuki militants armed with sophisticated weapons. This is far from the truth. The deaths reported in this article are of armed Meitei militants at Aigejang village on the night of June 13. The armed Meitei militants, after having destroyed Khopibung on the evening of June 12, went on to carry out their destruction campaign at Khamenlok and Chullouphai villages and subsequently at Aigejang village after having exhausted our defence volunteers of almost all ammunition,” the villages’ chiefs stated.
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