Fresh firing, arson in Manipur’s Jiribam

Imphal, Aug 3 (IANS) A fresh incident of firing and arson took place in Manipur’s Jiribam district, along southern Assam, a day after Meitei and Hmar tribal groups held a meeting for peace talks and resolved to make full efforts to bring normalcy and prevent incidents of arson and firing, officials said on Saturday.

A Police official in Imphal said that a Meitei family’s house was burnt and shots were fired at Lalpani village by the unidentified armed attackers on Friday night.

The official said that Lalpani village is an isolated settlement where Meitei community families were inhabited but most of the houses were abandoned after violence broke out in the district in the first week of June.

The unidentified armed cadres also fired several rounds of shells and gunshots, targeting the village but none was injured, he said.

Security forces comprising the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Manipur armed police were rushed to the area and launched a search operation to nab the attackers.

In a breakthrough in the almost 15-month-long ethnic conflict in Manipur, the Meitei and Hmar communities on Thursday have resolved to make full efforts to bring normalcy and prevent incidents of arson and firing.

Both sides agreed to give full cooperation to the administrations and all the security forces operating in Jiribam.

Representatives of Meitei and Hmar Community of Jiribam District along with senior officials of Jiribam District Administration, CRPF, district Superintendent of Police, and Assam Rifles Commandant were present in the meeting.

Jiribam witnessed a wave of violence after the killing of 59-year-old farmer Soibam Saratkumar Singh on June 6, leading to 900 tribals belonging to the Kuki and Hmar communities taking shelter at the homes of relatives and friends in two villages in Cachar district of southern Assam, while around 1,000 people, mostly belonging to the Meitei community, are now sheltered in seven relief camps in Jiribam.

On July 14, a CRPF jawan was killed and three other security personnel got injured when suspected militants ambushed a joint patrol party in Jiribam district.

The three injured include a CRPF jawan and two Manipur Police personnel.

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