Kuki houses set ablaze in Manipur's Naga-dominated district
Unknown miscreants on Wednesday (April 23, 2025) set fire to several houses in two Kuki villages of Manipur's Naga-dominated Kamjong, a district bordering Myanmar, prompting the authorities to impose prohibitory orders.
Most villagers were away tilling their fields when the miscreants attacked the Gampal and Haiyang villages in the morning. The villages are close to the Myanmar border.
Kamjong's District Magistrate, Rangnamei Rang Peter, said restrictions under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita were imposed as such disturbances could lead to serious breaches of peace, endanger public tranquillity, and pose risks to human lives and property.
The order, applicable in and around the two villages in the district's Sahamphung Subdivision, prohibited the movement of any person outside their residences and any other act or activity that could disturb the law and order in the area.
Several Kuki-Zo organisations, including the Kuki Inpi Manipur and Kuki Students' Organisation, condemned the incident and demanded immediate rebuilding of the two villages, proper rehabilitation of the affected families, and fair compensation for the losses they suffered.
They also demanded the deployment of an adequate number of personnel of 'neutral security forces' to ensure the safety of the villagers and prevent further violence, apart from the supply of essentials, including food, medical aid, and shelter to the displaced or affected.
'These heinous attacks have terrorised innocent Kuki civilians and once again imperilled the already fragile peace and stability in the region,' the organisations said in a joint statement.
'We urge the government to act with immediacy, impartiality, and integrity. The people of Gampal, Haiyang, and the wider Kuki-Zo community deserve not only protection but also justice and peace. The Kuki-Zo community views this act of terror seriously, as this would create misunderstanding between communities in the otherwise peaceful area,' the organisations said.
Manipur, under the President's Rule since February 13, has been trying to recover from the wounds inflicted by an ethnic conflict between the Kuki-Zo and Meitei communities that broke out on May 3, 2023. The clashes left more than 250 dead and displaced some 60,000 others.
The State has a history of such conflicts between different communities. One of the bloodiest was the Kuki-Naga conflict in the early 1990s that claimed more than 1,000 lives.
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