5 killed in Manipur as border between 2 districts is flashpoint

According to police, three people from the Meitei community were killed in the early hours of Saturday inside their homes in Kwakta in Bishnupur district. They have been identified as Yumnam Jiten Meitei (46), Yumnam Pishak Meitei (67) and his son, Yumnam Premkumar Meitei (39), all residents of Kwakta Ward 8.

While Bishnupur is a Meitei dominated district, in Kwakta, located close to the border with Kuki-Zomi dominated Churachandpur district, the majority of residents are from the Muslim Meitei Pangal community.

Police said that the incident took place around 2 am.

“Armed miscreants suspected to be from the Kuki community surrounded the village and started breaking into residences in the area. Some of the villagers contacted the officer in-charge of the Phaubakchao police station. However, by the time the police team reached the place, they found that three people had been killed, including a father and son,” said a police officer.

He added that one of the deceased had been shot in the head while the father and son had received injuries inflicted by a sharp object.

Yumnam Asha, wife of Yumnam Premkumar, said her husband had been staying at a relief camp in Kwakta High School since the violence broke out on May 3. She said he had returned to their home on Friday assuming that the situation had “calmed down to some extent”.

The bordering area of Bishnupur and Churachandpur district had also seen escalation of tensions and intermittent firing on Thursday, after the burial of 35 people from the Kuki-Zomi community was proposed to be held in Torbung, but was postponed after pressure from security forces and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Heavy firing between both sides began early morning on Saturday again, and later in the morning, the bodies of two people from the Kuki-Zomi community were retrieved from the border village of Pholjang in Churachandpur district and taken to the morgue at the Churachandpur District Hospital around 12.30 pm. They were identified as Jangkhomang Haokip (40) and Johny Lalkholen Guiye (32), whom organisations in Churachandpur said were defence volunteers stationed at the village.

The day also saw massive mobilisation of people on both sides of the border. Following news of the death of the three Meitei people, people started approaching Kwakta from Imphal in droves. According to defence sources, while members of this crowd set fire to some houses of Kuki-Zomis in Ukhatampak, a large number of people from the Kuki-Zomi community also mobilised to head towards Torbung to burn some already damaged houses of Meiteis.

The border area, where state police commandos and central forces were also present, remained heated through the day with the exchange of bullets, mortars, tear gas grenades, smoke grenades and stun grenades.

Later in the evening, mobs in Imphal began setting fire to homes and business establishments belonging to members of the Kuki-Zomi community in the New Checkon and Langol areas. Following this, authorities notified that there would be no relaxation of curfew in the Imphal East and Imphal West districts on Sunday.

This bordering area between the two districts has seen some of the most sustained violence in the state. According to security sources, one of the major challenges for security forces, despite their presence in the area, is the “U-shape” of the Kwakta-Kangvai-Torbung belt in which the Bishnupur district is “protruded into the hills” and surrounded by hills. By road, Kwakta itself is a few kilometres away from the border to Churachandpur district.