Meitei civil society organisations raise questions over ‘targeted attacks’ in Manipur

Civil society organisations representing the Meitei community raised questions about alleged targeted attacks against the community during the ongoing ethnic conflict in Manipur.

Civil society organisations representing the Meitei community on May 28 raised questions about alleged targeted attacks against the community during the ongoing ethnic conflict in Manipur.

The Delhi Meitei Coordinating Committee (DMCC), along with allied civil society organisations from Manipur capital Imphal that included groups of Meira Paibis (women activists), held a press conference at the Press Club of India in New Delhi. The organisations recalled the attacks on 13 Meitei villages on May 28 last year, hours before Union Home Minister Amit Shah was to visit the State.

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The ethnic conflict between the majority Meitei community and the tribal Kuki-Zo communities began on May 3 last year. More than 220 people have been killed in the conflict so far, thousands injured, and at least 50,000 people internally displaced.

The DMCC, in a statement, said the attacks on the villages in Imphal East and Bishnupur districts began in the early hours of May 28. Twelve Meitei people, two Kuki-Zo people, and two State forces personnel were killed in the attacks, it said.

Seram Rojesh, convener of the DMCC, said the attacks were carried out even as the Chief of the Army Staff, General Manoj Pande, and the then Eastern Command chief, Lieutenant-General R.P. Kalita, were in Imphal just ahead of Mr. Shah’s visit to the State at the time.

He added that several such attacks had taken places on Meitei villages and outposts of Manipur Police personnel and State forces despite public statements by top Assam Rifles officers promising action.