Tension Simmers In Jiribam After Fresh Violence, Search For 6 Missing Civilians On

Fresh incidents of violence were reported from Jiribam in Manipur even as the search continued for six missing persons.

Guwahati: Fresh incidents of violence were reported from Jiribam in Manipur on Tuesday even as the police and security forces deployed in the district have continued search operations for the six civilians - three women and three minor children, who have remained missing from the area since the firing on Monday.

Simmering tension prevailed in Manipur's Jiribam district on Tuesday where fresh firing and setting of houses on fire were reported. Ten unidentified miscreants were killed during an encounter with the CRPF on Monday at the Jakuradhor area.

Police on Tuesday said that two bodies of civilians have been recovered from the Jakuradhor area. The Jiribam district administration has imposed a curfew in and around the district after several Kuki and Hmar organisations called for a total shutdown in the hill areas of Manipur, protesting against the killing of the ten 'village volunteers' by the CRPF.

Inspector General of Manipur Police IK Muivah addressed the media in Imphal on Tuesday and termed the incident on Monday as unfortunate.

He said that the deceased were armed with sophisticated weapons like the AK series rifle, INSAS and RPGs which indicates that they are not civilians.

"The security forces followed the protocol of issuing warnings to restrain the deceased. However, they attacked the forces with sophisticated weapons which led to retaliation, leading to the death of ten," said Muivah.

He added that a search is on to trace the six missing women and children.

"We have recovered three AK rifles, four INSAS and two RPGs from the deceased. They were also in military fatigue which indicates that they are armed militants or armed miscreants," the IGP said.

Terming the deceased as 'village volunteers', the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF), which is an umbrella organisation of several tribes in Manipur, has accused the CRPF of brutally killing the 11 'village volunteers' on Monday at Jiribam and said that volunteers were on patrolling duty to sanitise tribal areas in the wake of the attack by the Meitei militants at the Zairawn village previous day.

"Kuki-Zo groups have repeatedly stressed during the entire Manipur conflict that they never target central forces and consider them as a buffer against attacking Meitei militants. Last Thursday, when Meitei gunmen attacked Zairawn village in Jiribam and brutally killed a Hmar woman, CRPF personnel posted nearby refused to fire even one shot to help the villagers and stayed put in their camp as the village was pillaged and burned for over an hour," a statement issued by the ITLF said on Tuesday.

"On Monday, the central force went a step further by brutally killing 11 Hmar village volunteers who were on patrolling duty to sanitize tribal areas in the wake of the Zairawn attack," the statement added.

"It is important to note that the state has never witnessed so many casualties in one incident of cross-firing. This suggests that the CRPF and Meitei state forces ambushed and murdered all the village volunteers. If the volunteers were indeed armed and intending to attack the security forces, it would have been impossible to kill so many of them in one incident of cross-firing from a distance," said the ITLF.

Meanwhile, the Kuki Students' Organization have also decided not to allow the CRPF personnel to leave their camp premises and demanded an apology from them for Monday's 'barbaric' killing of village volunteers.

"Any CRPF personnel found in violation of the notice shall do so at their own risk and responsibility. This directive will be in effect immediately upon the issuance of this notice and shall remain in force until the CRPF publicly acknowledges and apologizes for their barbaric actions in Jiribam," the Kuki student body said.

The Hmar Students Association on Tuesday demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for a CBI or a high-level inquiry into the incident.

The association claimed the incident was an attack on 10 Hmar village volunteers at Jakuradhor in Jiribam district.

"They were not militants. In fact, they were Hmar village volunteers who were protecting their community from the attack of Meitei militants. However, it was Meiteis who conspired to kill us," Jubilee Lalrammawi, general secretary of Hmar Students Associations-Delhi told ETV Bharat.

The association in a letter submitted in the PMO and MHA said that in connection with the Jiribam incident, they demand an urgent CBI or high-level inquiry into the attack, with a focus on the perpetrators, the sequence of events leading to the attack, and the identity of those responsible.

"We need immediate action to ensure the safety and security of the Hmar people in Jakuradhor and surrounding areas," said Hmar Students Association vice president Josef V Tuolor.

"The attack which occurred on November 11, is not only an atrocity but a clear violation of human rights, and it raises serious questions about the conduct of central security forces or other parties involved in the incident," the student body said.

They said that as per the eyewitness, the victims of the attack had laid down their arms in a gesture of peaceful coexistence, yet they were still subjected to extreme violence.

"Videos circulating on social media, showing how the dead bodies were mercilessly handled and dragged, prove the inhumane conduct of the CRPF," the student body said.

They said that this incident comes only days after armed Meitei extremists attacked the Hmar village of Zairawn in Jiribam on November 7.

"In this attack, Zosangkim, 31, mother of three belonging to the Hmar community was captured, tortured, raped and burnt alive, while more than a dozen homes were reduced to ashes," the student body alleged.

Meanwhile, senior officials of the Home Ministry held a review meeting over the present situation in Manipur. "The meeting discussed the evolving situation of Manipur especially following the killing of 10 Hmar militants," a senior official said.