Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh meets security personnel injured in a militant attack in Moreh, at RIMS Hospital in Imphal, Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
Guwahati: Police personnel and Kuki groups are engaged in an escalating gun fight in Moreh, a trade town in conflict-hit Manipur sharing borders with Myanmar, severely affecting business and normal life for the past several weeks.
At least 11 Manipur police commandos and a BSF jawan have been wounded in three separate gunfights in Moreh since December 30. The trade town, where people from across Myanmar also converge for business, has remained shut since December 30 when the fresh violence erupted after suspected Kuki insurgents attacked a team of police commandos and injured one.
Moreh, a Kuki-dominated town in Tengnoupal district, has remained tense since May when the riot broke out between the majority Meitei and Kuki tribes. Meiteis, who come second population-wise, had fled Moreh as suspected Kuki insurgents had attacked the Meitei-inhabited villages and set fire in markets and houses allegedly in retaliation to the attacks on the Kukis in the Meitei-dominated districts in the Imphal Valley. Kukis too, similarly fled the Imphal Valley. Moreh is considered as the country's gateway to Southeast Asian nations like Myanmar and Thailand.
Nearly 200 people have been killed and over 60,000 others have been displaced in the violence since May last year. Most of the Meitei organisations have demanded action against the Kuki insurgent groups alleging their involvement in drug trafficking from across Myanmar and "anti-national" activities. However, Kuki groups have rejected the allegations and have demanded that creation of a "separate administration" comprising the Kuki-dominated districts (including Tengnoupal) is the only way to end the conflict.
Foreign elements
Manipur CM N Biren Singh suspects that "foreign elements" from across Myanmar are involved in the recent attacks on the security forces. But several Kuki groups have said that their "village volunteers" were "compelled to defend themselves" as Manipur police commandos (Meiteis) attacked Kuki villages in and around Moreh and harassed the "innocent villagers" in the name of maintaining law and order. Kukis demand that Manipur police personnel (mostly Meiteis) should be withdrawn and law and order must be maintained only by the neutral central security forces.
"There can be no peace as long as they (commandos) are deployed in Moreh. If the Meitei forces are allowed to continue operating and harassing the Kuki-Zo tribals, the government will be held responsible for any security issue in the future," said a statement issued by Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF), a forum of the Kuki-Zo organisations. ITLF said they made the same demand to Home Minister Amit Shah during his visit to Manipur on May 31.
The ITLF imposed a 24-hour "shutdown" in all Kuki-Zo dominated areas on Wednesday in order to register protest against the alleged atrocities by the Manipur police commandos with the help of "Meitei armed groups" like Aarmbai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun.
An official in a central security force told DH that Kuki groups became angry when Manipur police commandos were rushed to Moreh in October in order to "create an atmosphere" for resettling the Meiteis, who had fled Moreh since May. More forces were rushed after Chingtham Anand Kumar, the officer-in-charge of Moreh police station, a Meitei, was killed in firing allegedly by Kuki insurgents on October 31 while he was overseeing work for construction of a helipad.