Google Maps image locates Manipur’s Jiribam district.
Suspected militants torched nearly 30 houses and two police outposts in Jiribam district of Manipur on Saturday.
Chief Minister N. Biren Singh said additional police personnel and Central security forces have been rushed to the district following arson and violence. A forest beat office too was set on fire in the early hours of Saturday, he said.
“The militants torched around 30 houses also. This follows the abduction and killing of a 59-year-old farmer [May 6],” Mr. Singh said.
“Around 100 Manipur Police personnel, other than reinforcements from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Assam Rifles, have been sent to Jiribam. The district had been peaceful so far, it never witnessed violence on this scale,” Mr. Singh told The Hindu.
He is in Delhi to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi on Sunday.
Jiribam district, which borders Assam, has a diverse demography comprising people from Meitei, Kuki-Zo and Naga communities as well as non-locals. The district had remained unaffected during the ethnic violence that erupted in the State on May 3, 2023.
The Manipur Police said in a statement that in the violence that broke out following the murder of the farmer, “several houses belonging to both Meitei and Kuki communities were burnt down by unknown miscreants in Jiribam district”.
“Further, two police pickets and the Borobekra Forest Beat Office were also burnt down by miscreants. Situation is tense but under control at present. The police is also actively monitoring social media updates that may incite communal feelings amongst the communities, and requests general public to refrain from spreading unfounded/ unverified information,” the police said.
Governor Anusuiya Uikey met Mr. Singh and reviewed the prevailing situation in Jiribam district. She urged the Chief Minister to take all possible measures to control it, the Governor’s office posted on X.
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200 people moved to camp
Jiribam, which has a diverse ethnic composition comprising Meiteis, Muslims, Nagas, Kukis and non-Manipuris, had so far remained unaffected by the ethnic strife which has been raging in Manipur since May last year.
The Manipur government transferred Jiribam Superintendent of Police A. Ghanashyam Sharma. A tribal body has announced a shutdown from Saturday in Jiribam to protest the violence.
The ethnic conflict between Imphal Valley-based Meiteis and hills-based Kukis has led to the deaths of over 200 people and rendered thousands of people homeless.