Manipur’s Jiribam on edge as mob torches houses, government offices

The latest round of violence erupted in the district Thursday after a 59-year-old man, identified as Soibam Saratkumar Singh, was found dead, with his body bearing signs of injuries made by a sharp object. The mob rampage that followed prompted the Jiribam administration to impose prohibitory orders under CrPC Section 144.

Jiribam lies on the westernmost side of Manipur, about 220 kilometres from the state’s capital Imphal. It borders Assam’s Cachar district.

As violence escalated, Manipur’s newly-elected Congress MP, Bimol Akoijam, appealed for restraint.

“To restore peace, we should be careful of the forces at play and not succumb to any plots to sustain the violence,” Akoijam, the MP-elect from the Inner Manipur seat, said.

Akoijam said he had spoken to Jiribam district administration to ensure both lives and property are safeguarded. He also wondered if an “ethnic exclusivist agenda” was at play.

Meanwhile, a villager at Lamlai Khunou, who’s currently staying at a relief camp in Chingdong Leikai Primary School in Jiribam, said residents of her village had been on high alert after there were reports of violence Wednesday night. Her family was forced to flee their home Thursday as violence escalated, she said, adding that they were eventually rescued by the Assam Rifles.

Sources from the district said the arson in parts of the district went on from midnight Thursday until Saturday morning. Over 70 buildings had allegedly been torched.

Several people are currently taking shelter in the district’s multipurpose sports complex and Chindong Leikai school.

Manipur has been on the edge since 3 May last year, when ethnic violence between Meiteis and Kuki-Zomis first erupted. Over 200 people have been killed in the violence and over 50,000 displaced.

Significantly, despite the sporadic violence witnessed in the rest of the state, Jiribam had remained relatively calm until now.