As India hosts world leaders for the G20 summit, violence continued in Manipur’s Pallel on Friday, 8 September, resulting in at least two fatalities and numerous injuries, including one Assam Rifles personnel and three Manipur Police personnel. According to information from a defense source, the violence erupted around 6:00 am on Friday in Molnoi, near Pallel, situated in the hill district of Tengnoupal. Molnoi is predominantly inhabited by the Kuki-Zomi community, while Pallel boasts a mixed population dominated by the Meitei community.
The Manipur police issued a statement explaining that the violence began when ‘armed miscreants’ attempted arson and an attack within the village, prompting thousands of people to converge in Pallel.
The police, according to the Indian Express, claimed that security forces employed ‘minimum force’ to disperse the crowd. Nevertheless, two individuals within the mob lost their lives and many others sustained injuries. One of the deceased has been identified as 46-year-old Yengkhom Jiten from Kakching district. Over 50 people are reported to have been injured, with 12 of them, including three Manipur police personnel, being admitted to hospitals in Imphal.
Meanwhile, tensions between the Kuki and Naga communities have escalated further following a recent incident in which Z Hotngambou, the ex-chairman of a Liangmai Naga village, was assaulted by cadres of the Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA) on 5 September at Chalwa in the IT Road area under Kangpokpi district.
In response, the Liangmai Naga Council (LNC) issued a statement expressing concerns about the actions of the Kuki community, who, despite residing in Naga areas, have been accused of continued harassment of the Nagas. The LNC emphasized that the majority of Kukis are living within the Nagas’ ancestral lands, particularly in the Kangpokpi district, which is considered ‘unrecognized’ and has been a source of political dispute, including opposition by the United Naga Council (UNC) and Nagas.
The LNC further pointed out that the Kukis have been obtaining their essential needs and amenities from Naga areas, notably Senapati district. They noted that the Nagas have not caused any obstructions or untoward incidents to individuals from other communities within their territories, including the Kukis.
However, the LNC accused the Kukis of indulging in rampant extortion and physical harassment of indigenous Liangmai Naga travellers by imposing ‘forceful illegal tax’ along the NH-2 and Imphal-Tamenglong (IT) Road in Kangpokpi areas.
The most recent incident, according to LNC, involved an “attempted murder” of an ex-chairman of a Liangmai Naga village who refused to pay the demanded tax to the Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA), a militant group operating under Suspension of Operation (SoO).
“As a peace-loving and neutral Naga community, we cannot understand the intent of the Kukis in perpetuating such barbaric and incendiary acts again and again. There have been constant harassments, threats, physical assaults, extortions, and collection of illegal taxes from petty traders, such as vegetable and fruit sellers, and charcoal makers, meted out to the indigenous Naga people by the Kukis for years without any qualms,’ the LNC also stated.