Imphal: Two people, including an Indian Reserve Police personnel, belonging to the Kuki-Zo community were allegedly killed by Meitei insurgents in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district on Monday, the Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU), an organization representing the Kukis, said.
An army official said that an IRB police personnel identified as Henminlen Vaiphei and Thangminlun Hangshing were killed in a deserted forest between the Leilon Vaiphei and Kharam Vaiphei villages.
“The two people were killed well inside the Kuki territory. We rushed to the area after hearing the gunshots. On reaching the spot, we found the bodies lying near a vehicle,” the official said.
COTU has condemned the “unprovoked attack” and called for a shutdown in the Kangpokpi district in protest against the killings.
The shutdown is to convey to the Union Government that Kuki-Zo communities are no longer safe under “partisan [Manipur] government”, COTU said.
Meanwhile, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), a frontal group of the Kuki-Zo community, has also vehemently condemned the “unending attacks and killing of unarmed tribals by the Meitei community”.
“Since we don’t expect any help and sympathy from the communal state government controlled by the Meiteis, we again urge the central government to accept the situation for what it is – an ethnic cleansing campaign against minorities. Provide us with a political solution which does not involve living under the yoke of a Meitei-controlled government,” ITLF Spokesperson Ginza Vualzong demanded.
