A screengrab of a video taken from Borobekra police station in Manipur’s Jiribam
Imphal/Guwahati:
Suspected Kuki insurgents fired at a police station in Manipur’s Jiribam district today, police sources in the district’s Borobekra subdivision said.
The suspected Kuki insurgents began firing at 5.30 am at Borobekra police station, some 30 km from the Jiribam district headquarters, police sources said.
Visuals from the police station show bullet holes on the walls and doors. Continuous gunfire could be heard. The security forces launched a combing operation soon after the attack, sources said.
A house was also set on fire, and there was at least one bomb attack, police sources said.
“Sporadic firings are happening in some areas, including in Jiribam district. With the efforts of security forces, the situation has been brought under control,” Manipur Police chief Rajiv Singh told reporters.
READ | “Seems They Traversed Long Distance…”: Manipur Police On What Happened In Jiribam
Today’s attack came just days after Meitei, Naga and Kuki MLAs of the ruling BJP and its allies met the Centre in Delhi separately for the first time since ethnic violence began in May 2023.
A statement on Friday under the letterhead ‘Hmar Village Volunteers’ threatened the police and paramilitary forces to leave an area in Jiribam “before sunset”, or take responsibility for any incident that may happen.
The Meitei civil society organisation Jiri Apunba Lup in a statement today raised concern about the threat, and alleged Kuki insurgents launched “a massive attack on Borobekra police station with gunfire and bombs the next day… A shop and a house were damaged using bombs and a house was burned down.”
On August 1, representatives of the Meitei community and the Hmar tribe held a peace meeting in Jiribam, and agreed to work for normalcy nearly two months after ethnic violence reached the district bordering Assam.
Jiribam, 250 km from the state capital Imphal, didn’t see violence for over a year since Meitei-Kuki ethnic violence began in May 2023; however, clashes erupted in the district in June, forcing over a thousand people from both the communities to live in relief camps, some in neighbouring Assam.
READ | Meitei, Hmar Representatives Meet In Manipur’s Jiribam, Agree To Bring Normalcy
The clashes between the valley-dominant Meitei community and the nearly two dozen tribes known as Kukis – a term given by the British in colonial times – who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, have killed over 220 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.
The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.