Imphal: Top Kuki-Zo bodies in the Tengnoupal district including Kuki Inpi and Hill Tribal Council condemn the torching of houses by state forces in Moreh.
The joint press statement accused the state forces of torching houses in Lhangnom Veng in Moreh after a gunfight erupted between the police commandos and unidentified gunmen.
On Saturday at 3:20 PM, a gunfight broke out between police commandos and unidentified gunmen.
The statement accuses the state forces of attempting to attack the Kuki-Zo people in Moreh by traveling in groups and terrorizing the locals.
In the aftermath of the gunfight, the panic-stricken public took shelter leaving their homes. Taking advantage of the deserted homes, the police commandos burnt down three houses in Lhangnom Veng, Moreh ward No.9, claimed the statement.
It questions the role of state forces in indulging in anti-human activities.
The joint CSOs vehemently condemned the arson and indiscriminate firing towards Kuki-zo localities and urge the concerned authority to immediately withdraw the state forces.
It further threatens to take various courses of action if harassment and anti-human activities are not curtailed.
Manipur Violence, One killed in a Counter-Ambush
In a fresh incident of violence on Saturday in Nakhujang village of Kangpokpi district, Manipur, one armed cadre of the valley group succumbed to bullet injury. The deceased was identified as James Ningombam, age 35 of Mayang-langjing of Imphal West district.
Sources from Nakhujang village reported that the firing broke out over the issue of forest protection in the village.
While speaking to a resident of the village over a telephone conversation, the villager alleged that Arambai Tengols resorted to the illegal cutting of firewood in the village forest without the consent of the village chief.
He further reported that the village volunteers went out to patrol the forest areas to check deforestation. On the way, they were ambushed by the valley groups.
“The valley groups trespassed the buffer zones at break of dawn to attack the village volunteer off guard,” he remarked.
Another villager reported that in the past there were a series of ambushes against the people in the Kangchup-Leimakhong area and five people lost their lives in such an ambush, he added.
After a heavy exchange of firing for almost an hour, the valley groups retreated. In a video shared on social media, trails of blood were seen on the grounds in the aftermath of the gunfight. Later, a Facebook post of ‘Manipur Today’, a prominent Valley-based Facebook page with over seventy-three thousand followers announced the death of James Ningombam.
Another Facebook post by Korounganba Khuman, the leader of Arambai Tenggol surfaced online with the message “Do not let the Central forces intervene in the Kadangband area today.”
Kandangband is a Meitei village located near Nakhujang village, the two villages are separated by a small hillock.
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The conflict in Manipur has been running for over eight months now, with the death toll reaching 190 and seventy thousand citizens internally displaced.
Also Read | For Manipur’s integrity, we need peaceful coexistence: But is it possible?