Ukhrul: Four members of the Naga Village Guards (NVG) reportedly sustained bullet injuries following a fresh gun attack at Ringui village in Ukhrul district on Tuesday.
According to local sources, suspected Kuki armed groups crossed about 5 to 6 km into the jurisdiction of Ringui village and launched the attack.
According to a statement from the Central Command Naga Village Guard, the incident occurred around 10:30 am while a team of the Naga village guards was conducting a routine inspection of the forested area at Horei hill range under Ringui village jurisdiction. During this time, heavily armed Kuki narco-terrorists, allegedly in collusion with the Kuki cadres under the Suspension of Operations pact, indiscriminately fired on them, resulting in injuries to four NVG members.
The Central Command Naga Village Guard further alleged that Kuki groups have been cultivating poppy for many years in the forested areas under Ringui and Sirarakhong villages adjoining Mullam in Ukhrul district. These areas have reportedly become key transit points for narco-terrorism operations in the Manipur.
Further, the NVG takes strong exception to the violent act committed upon the real landowners and the narco-terror activities being carried out in the Naga ancestral land by illegal immigrant Kukis.
The NVG lamented that despite the State government waging a war-on-drug campaign against the Kukis in the hills of Manipur, illegal activities continue.
The NVG Central Command urged both the State and Central government to seriously re-strategise and implement concrete measures to contain the poppy cultivation and put an immediate end to narco-terrorism at all costs. The statement reaffirmed the NVG’s commitment to check and control illegal poppy and any narco-terror activities in Naga ancestral land, defending the land and identity of indigenous people and as a responsible group. It also reiterated its unwavering stand to resist any form of incursion in their motherland.
Meanwhile, the Ringui Village Protection Committee strongly condemned the unprovoked attack reportedly carried out by Kuki armed groups under SoO, who, according to the Committee, were armed with sophisticated weapons against the Naga Village Guard (NVG) monitoring along the Ringui Horei within the territorial Jurisdiction of Ringui Naga village in Ukhrul district.
The Committee stated that the fresh gunfight, which began in the morning, was still ongoing at the time of this report, causing widespread panic, fear and distress among the innocent villagers.
According to the Committee, this is not the first time Kuki terrorists have launched an attack in the same location, which they said is deeply alarming. The repeated acts of aggression reveal a continuing pattern of hostility and provocation. As a result, innocent civilians including women, children and elderly persons, are being compelled to live in constant fear and uncertainty.
The people remain vulnerable to stray bullets, destruction of homes and properties, forced displacements and the ever-present risks to human lives. The Committee warned that continued aggressions by Kuki terrorists have the dangerous potential to escalate tensions between the Kuki and Naga communities into a much wider conflict, thereby threatening peace, communal harmony, and stability across Manipur, it said.
In view of the seriousness of the situation, the Ringui Village Protection Committee ırgently called upon the competent authority to ensure that peace and harmony is maintained in Ringui Village and its vicinity. The Committee affirmed that the Ringui village stands united in defense of its land, its people, and its right to live in peace and dignity.
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