- Monday, January 13, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
More than 50 people have lost their lives in violence that has erupted in the north-eastern Indian state of Manipur while hundreds have been injured.
Sources in hospitals and the Indian Army have said that 23,000 people have also been displaced, CNN reported.
On Sunday (7), hospital officials in Imphal, the capital of Manipur, said at least 55 people were killed while 260 were admitted to hospitals after clashes broke out between Meitei and Kuki ethnic groups last week.
The Indian armed forces said that 23,000 civilians fled the violence with several displaced people being housed at military bases and garrisons in the state which has an international border with Myanmar.
The fighting first started after thousands of tribal people took part in a rally taken out by the All Tribal Students Union of Manipur against the potential inclusion of the Meiteis — the state’s majority ethnic group — in India’s Scheduled Tribe (ST) grouping.
The Meiteis, who constitute up to 50 per cent of Manipur’s population, have tried to get recognition as a scheduled tribe for years. An ST tag would provide them access to wider benefits such as health, education and government employment.
STs are among the most socio-economically disadvantaged groups in the South Asian nation and have historically been denied access to studies and jobs.
Other tribal groups of the area fear that they will not have a fair opportunity for jobs and other benefits if the Meiteis get ST status.
As ethnic clashes are occurring on the streets of Imphal, Indian troops have been deployed and a five-day mobile internet blackout has been imposed.
A youth tribal leader, whose house was ransacked on Thursday (4), called the attacks “very systematic” and “well planned”.
“The execution is almost clinical and they know exactly the houses where people from tribal communities reside,” CNN quoted him as saying on the condition of anonymity. He has been staying in the army camp since fleeing his house.
He said around 5,500 people were staying in his camp and there were about six or seven camps in all in the Manipur capital.
Earlier this week, Manipur’s governor Anusuiya Uikey issued “shoot-at-sight” orders in order to bring the situation under control.
The orders were authorised for “extreme cases whereby all forms of persuasion, warning, reasonable force etc. had been exhausted” and the situation “could not be controlled,” a statement from the state’s home department said, according to CNN.
Politicians across the board appealed for peace.
People were also facing a hard time as shopkeepers and vendors hiked prices of essential commodities, Manipur’s Sangai Express reported.
