Do not turn Torbung into cemetery: Villagers
AMN / WEB DESK
Hours after a planned mass burial of Kuki-Zo community people killed in the ethnic-strife was stalled, 17 people were injured in clashes as the Army and RAF personnel fired tear gas shells at Kangvai and Phougakchao area in Bishnupur district on Thursday, officials said.
The district magistrates of Imphal East and West have also withdrawn curfew relaxations earlier announced, reimposing the restrictions during the day, on top of night curfew throughout the Imphal valley.
Tension had been brewing since morning in Bishnupur district as thousands of locals came out on the streets to block the movement of security forces.
The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) has agreed to conditionally postpone the burial for five days after requests from Union Home Minister and Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga.
The displaced villagers of Torbung on Wednesday raised strong objections against turning the village located in Bishnupur district into a cemetary and urged not to bury any narco-terrorists at Torbung.
The stranded villagers who are presently taking shelter at relief camps announced that they will return back and resettle in their villages from August 4. The villagers also warned of serious consequences if their village is converted into cemeteries of the narco-terrorists who have been killed in the clash.
“We will return back to our village at Torbung on August 4 and if we meet any unwanted incidents, then the state and the Central government should be held responsible for that,” said one Loitongbam Surchand, a displaced villager at Manipur Press Club on Wednesday.
He said that the people of Torbung will not allow the conversion of their villages into cemeteries.
The residents of villages under Torbung Gram Panchayat, namely Torbung Bangla, Waikhurok, Torbung Govindapur, Torbung Bazar, Torbung Sabal Leikai, Kangvai, Phougakchao Kkhai, and Phagakchao Ikhai Awang Leikai have been staying at relief camps opened in Imphal since the outbreak of violence in May 3.
Surchand asked both the state and Central government if they had given any permission for burying the dead bodies of the Kuki community at Torbung Bangla. He said that allowing the burial at Torbung Bangla is in violation of international law and is an invitation for a religious civil war.
The displaced people from villages under Torbung Gram Panchayat have appealed to the government to remove all armed narco-terrorists before August 3, failing which the government should be held responsible for anything that happens in the aftermath, he said.
RK Babita Devi, a representative of Meira Paibi from Torbung Govindapur said that Torbung village is one of the first places where the Kuki started attacking Meiteis. She said that they fled for their lives after the Kukis backed by the armed Narco-terrorists started attacking the villagers on May 3.
Manipur High Court directs status quo at proposed mass burial site
Hours ahead of a planned mass burial of 35 Kuki-Zo people killed in violence, a bench of the Manipur High Court led by Acting Chief Justice on Thursday directed the Centre and state government to maintain status quo ante at the proposed burial site in a land belonging to Sericulture directorate near Torbung.
The bench of acting chief justice MV Muralidaran and justice A Guneshwar Sharma after a hearing at 6 am further directed all law enforcement authorities to ensure the maintenance of law and order around the proposed site of burial and directed all parties, including governments, to amicably settle the matter.
The HC also gave liberty to the Kuki-Zo people to approach the authorities for allotment of land for burial within one week.
The HC was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by International Meeteis Forum on August 2, seeking that the burial be stopped as it was being planned on government property.
The matter was mentioned before the bench of acting chief justice, who had assigned the matter to a bench of justice A Bimol and A Guneshwar Sharma.
However, in the morning, justice A Bimol had expressed his personal inconvenience and so the matter had been listed before the acting chief justice.
During the hearing, the state government lawyer mentioned the matter before the acting chief justice at his residence around 5 am. The urgency of the matter was explained and the matter was taken up as an unlisted one considering its nature.
At the hearing, the state government was represented by Deputy AG, H Debendra, the central government was represented by deputy solicitor general of India.