Meitei Mobs Go On Rampage In Imphal, Torch Residence Of Junior Foreign Minister

Incensed over the killing of nine radicals belonging to their community at a Kuki village in the outskirts of Imphal Valley, angry Meitei mobs staged violent protests in different parts of state capital Imphal Thursday (15 June). 

The private residence of Union Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Raj Kumar Ranjan Singh, at Kongba in Imphal East district was burnt down by a huge mob Thursday (15 June) night. 

A huge mob of a few hundred Meitei men violated curfew and surrounded the residence of the Union Minister, who is also a Meitei. 

The 22-odd Manipur Police personnel who were on duty at the Minister’s residence did nothing to drive away the mob and protect the property they were tasked to guard. The Minister and his family were not present at the house when it came under attack.

On Wednesday (14 June), too, police personnel who were deployed to guard the residence of Manipur’s Commerce and Industries Minister, Nemcha Kipgen, in Imphal remained mute bystanders when a Meitei mob torched it. Kipgen and her family were not present at the house at that time. 

The Meiteis are angry over what they perceive is the BJP-led state government’s failure to stop attacks on Meiteis by Kukis. 

Meitei organisations have blamed Kuki militants for the killing of the nine people at Aigejang village in the outskirts of Imphal in the intervening night of Tuesday (13 June) and Wednesday (14 June). 

They blame the government for doing little to rein in Kuki militants. Meiteis also accuse the Army, Assam Rifles and the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) of sparing the Kukis and carrying out operations against Meitei radical groups who have thousands of rifles, small arms, mortars and huge amounts of ammunition looted from Manipur Police armouries in their possession. 

But, say security forces, Meitei groups had attacked Aigejang and other Kuki villages since Sunday (11 June) and burnt down hundreds of houses in those villages, Kuki residents of those villages took shelter in nearby forests. 

After looting and torching houses, a small group of Meitei radicals went inside a church in Aigejang village. Kuki men who had formed village defence bodies surrounded the church and attacked the Meitei criminals, killing nine of them and severely injuring ten. 

The killing of such a large number of Meiteis sparked outrage among the community in Imphal Valley. Angry and often violent demonstrations were staged by Meitei groups in different parts of the state capital Thursday (15 June). 

Irate Meitei mobs also pelted stones at government properties and Kuki houses in some localities. 

At New Checkon locality in Imphal East district, Meitei mobs torched a couple of houses belonging to Kukis. The houses had been abandoned by the Kukis when ethnic clashes broke out earlier last month. 

Large groups of Meitei women stopped the CRPF’s Rapid Action Force (RAF) and fire brigade from entering New Checkon to douse the flames. The women diabolically alleged that Kukis themselves set fire to their own houses in order to defame the Meitei community. 

There are, however, no Kukis in that area since all have fled to the Kuki-dominated hill districts or out of the state. 

The RAF had to fire tear gas shells to disperse the angry mobs of women blocking roads in New Checkon. One woman was injured when a tear gas canister hit her. 

In nearby Ando, Meitei mobs protesting the deaths in Aigejang hurled stones at RAF personnel, injuring two of them. 

Chief Minister N Biren Singh once again blamed “illegal infiltrators from Myanmar” for the violence in the state. He said that the killing of Meitei men inside a church in the Kuki village of Aigejang was an “act of terrorism” and vowed to bring the killers to justice. 

Singh’s comments angered Kukis who asked what the Meitei men who died were doing in a church at a Kuki village at the dead of night. 

The Coordination Committee for Manipur Integrity (CONCOMI), an influential Meitei organisation, said people were angry over the killings at Aigejang. 

The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum has demanded immediate imposition of President’s Rule in the state.