The incident took place early Friday morning in Thowai Kuki village in the Tangkhul Naga-dominated Ukhrul. Police said the three people killed were reportedly entrusted with guarding the village.
Three people were killed early on Friday morning in a fresh incident of violence in Manipur in a village in the Tangkhul Naga-dominated Ukhrul, which has been relatively peaceful through the course of the ongoing conflict in the state.
The incident took place at around 4.30 am, the police said, in the Kuki village of Thowai Kuki, which comes under the jurisdiction of Ukhrul police. We have identified the three killed as Thangkhokai Haokip, Jamkhogin Haokip, and Hollenson Baite.
Ningshem Vashum, the SP of Ukhrul, stated that the three individuals were reportedly village guards who had been entrusted with the responsibility of guarding the village.
“The incident is related to the ongoing ethnic problem in the state. Some armed miscreants entered the village and shot the three people who were guarding the village. The firing has stopped in the area and security forces comprising the Army and police have moved into the area,” Vashum said.
He added that because the village is in a remote location, the nearest security post is around 3 km away because of which security personnel were not present at the time.
While Thowai Kuki comes under the Ukhrul police, it comes under the revenue district of Kamjong. Ukhrul itself has not seen violence in the ongoing clashes between the state’s Meitei and Kuki-Zomi communities. Vashum said that another incident of violence had taken place in another Kuki village in Kamjong around a month ago.
The violence in the state has been ongoing since May 3, and it has affected the worst districts, which are Meitei-dominated Bishnupur, Imphal West, Imphal East, Kakching, and Kuki-Zomi-dominated Churachandpur and Kangpokpi.
While maintaining their distance from the ongoing conflict, the MLAs and civil society leaders of the state’s Naga community have emphasized that they must be consulted in case of any political settlement of the issue. They have also stressed that any plan to grant separate administration to Kuki-Zomi territories should not affect Naga territories.
CREDIT: THE INDIAN EXPRESS
