GUWAHATI: Arson incidents and ethnic clashes continued to rock trouble-torn Manipur on Thursday with a large crowd of people setting houses of a particular community on fire in the New Checkon area, forcing the security forces to fire teargas shells to disperse the crowd. There were, however, no casualties, security sources said. Tension was high in Imphal after the massacre in Khamenlok area, where the death toll has gone up to 13 with recovery of two more bodies.
On the incident of arson in the New Checkon area, the police said the incident took place about 1 am when local residents started gathering in the locality and started setting some of the houses on fire. The crowd also had an argument with the security forces which fired teargas shells to disperse them.
The efforts to restore peace, meanwhile, received yet another setback as noted theatre personality Ratan Thiyam refused to be a part of the 51-member peace committee formed by the Union government to defuse the ethnic violence in Manipur. Thiyam was quoted as saying: “There is so much violence and we are yet to hear a word from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.” He added: “There is a need for political will and political power. Unless the Centre comes into the picture, the situation will continue to be alarming.”
In a related development, the Manipur Tribal Forum filed a fresh interlocutory application in the Supreme Court stating that the court should not rely on the “empty assurances” of the Union of India as both the Centre and the chief minister of Manipur “have embarked jointly on a communal agenda for the ethnic cleansing of Kukis”. Saying the Kukis are being ethnically cleansed by an armed communal organisation, the group sought the protection of the tribe by the Indian Army as the state and its police force were not trusted by tribals. The organisation argued that despite assurances given by the solicitor-general at the last hearing, no relief has been given so far. The plea stated: “After the giving of these assurances, over 81 Kukis were killed, 237 churches and 73 administration building/quarters were burnt and 141 villages destroyed, and 31,410 Kukis displaced from their homes. The assurances of the authorities are not useful anymore and made in a non-serious fashion and are not even intended to be implemented.”
The forum also voiced disappointment with the assurances of the Union home minister. “Just like the assurances given by the counsel for the Union of India were empty and meaningless and made with no intention of being honoured, the assurances of the home minister, it is hoped, will not be the same. The home minister has to do more than to mechanically repeat assurances given in other situations at other times. The home minister must convince the tribals of Manipur that he is sincere.”
The forum also expressed no-confidence with the inquiry commission constituted by the Centre under the leadership of former Gauhati HC CJ Ajai Lamba and prayed that it be quashed and replaced by a single-member commission of former Delhi high court Chief Justice and Law Commission chairperson A.P. Shah.
