Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala): Life has changed for a girl, who escaped from the violence-hit area of Manipur, and joined a school in Kerala. The seven-year-old girl - Hoineijem Vaiphei alias Jejem reached the southern state Friday last and joined a government-model lower primary school at Thycaud in the Thiruvananthapuram district.
Jejem, who is studying in second grade, was a resident of the Nakhujung village in the Kangpokpi district of Manipur. Her home was torched by unidentified miscreants in the ongoing violence in the strife-torn state. Her parents and siblings are staying in a refugee camp. Jejem was brought to Kerala by her relative Lumbi Chiangm, who is posted as an income tax officer in Thiruvananthapuram. She will now pursue her studies at the Kerala school.
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Jejem's parents - Mangdoy and Anchoy are farmers. When their house was torched, several official documents of Jejem were reduced to ashes. Only the identity card from her previous school in Manipur remained. Even Chiangam's house has also been burnt in the ongoing violence. A school teacher said that Jejem was deeply disturbed by the happenings and it was evident from her behaviour on the first day of school in Kerala. "All the teachers and her friends are treating her as the 'daughter of Kerala'," added the school teacher.
Over 100 have been killed in the ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki community people in Manipur. Clashes first broke out on May 3 after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. Meiteis account for about 53 percent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals - Nagas and Kukis - constitute another 40 percent of the population and reside in the hill districts.
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