Woman, daughter wounded; 3 houses set afire in ethnic violence-hit Manipur

A56-year-old kuki-chin adult female and her girl were maimed in a invigorated gunfight between two armed groups in ethnic violence-hit Manipur’s Kangpokpi district even as at least three houses were set afire in a separate incident on Sunday.Police said the gunfight erupted around 5:10pm at Thingkhogjang village near the Imphal-Silchar National Highway.Kuki-Inpi Manipur, a civil body, condemned the attack as barbaric and cowardly. It blamed Naga insurgent groups, the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah), or NSCN-IM, and the Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF), for the attack.Officials said Kuki National Front-Presidential faction (KNF-P) and Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA), both Kuki outfits, which have signed a suspension of operations pact with the government, were involved in the gunfight. They added that the KNF-P attacked a KRA camp, triggering the gunfight which left the mother and her eight-year-old daughter wounded.The two were referred to Imphal’s Regional Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital for treatment. Hospital authorities said both sustained bullet injuries to their thighs and are in stable condition. In a separate incident around the same time, at least three houses were set ablaze in the nearby Setjang village.Kuki-Inpi Manipur said the police and district administration had assured the security of every village. “A Memorandum of Understanding was also made with the Government of Manipur that the security and safety of innocent villagers and villages within Kangpokpi District would be the responsibility of the District Police, and that Kuki-Zo volunteers need not guard their villages. Those assurances now stand shattered.”The Kuki body demanded an immediate, transparent, impartial, and time-bound investigation.Naga-Kuki tensions have escalated since the May 13 twin ambush in Noney and Kangpokpi, which left three church leaders and a Naga man dead. Nagas have been protesting and blocking national highways, demanding justice since the recovery of the mutilated bodies of six Nagas.The six were among the 48 people whom separate Kuki and Naga groups abducted and kept as hostages in the aftermath of the May 13 twin ambush. All the Kuki and 14 Naga hostages were released.The ethnic clashes in Manipur first began between the Meitei and Kuki communities before involving almost every community. The state’s Meitei and the Kuki-Zo communities shut each other out from the areas they dominate since ethnic clashes began in May 2023 and left at least 260 people dead and displaced 60,000.The Meiteis, mostly Hindu, live largely in the Imphal valley. The Kukis, predominantly Christian, reside in the hills. The state government has maintained that there are no buffer zones dividing communities in the state, but it has identified certain sensitive areas.A new government was formed in February, nearly a year after the imposition of the President’s Rule. It includes representatives from all three major communities as part of an attempt to maintain ethnic balance.