- Tangkhul Naga leaders met Manipur Chief Minister Khemchand Singh seeking more security forces
- Delegation reported repeated armed attacks terrorizing residents in their village
- Protests and blockades by Tangkhul Naga and Kuki tribes continue over missing people
A delegation of Tangkhul Naga leaders from Manipur's Ukhrul district met with Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh today and asked for deployment of more state security forces and stronger administrative support amid escalating ethnic tension.
The delegation from Ukhrul's Sinakeithei village, 45 km from the state capital Imphal, told the chief minister that repeated armed attacks in and around their village have terrorised residents.
Naga People's Front (NPF) MLA Ram Muivah accompanied the delegation.
The meeting with the chief minister comes amid highway blockades and protests by both the Tangkhul Naga and Kuki tribes over the disappearance of several people from both tribes. They went missing after an ambush killed three church leaders of the Thadou tribe on May 13. The Thadou Baptist Association church leaders had been travelling in a vehicle from Churachandpur in the southern part of the state to Kangpokpi in the east when the ambush happened.
Both Tangkhul Naga and Kuki tribe organisations have accused each other of having a hand in the ambush.
The United Naga Council, one of the more influential civil organisations of the Naga tribes in Manipur, has told its counterpart Kuki Inpi Manipur to ensure the safe release of six missing Tangkhul Naga men.
The Kuki Inpi Manipur has said it has no knowledge about the missing people from the other tribe. At least 14 members of the Kuki tribe, however, remain missing, it said.
At the meeting today, the Tangkhul Naga delegation asked the chief minister to deploy India Reserve Battalion (IRB) personnel, reinforce the police station in Sinakeithei village and open the sub-divisional collector's office. They also sought humanitarian aid, uninterrupted supply of essential commodities and speeding up work on healthcare and development projects in remote hill areas.
Khemchand Singh told them that disarming armed groups across Manipur is essential to restoring stability.
The blockades have left some 2,000 trucks stranded on National Highway-2.
The police in posts on social media said they have intensified joint search operations in Kangpokpi, Senapati and adjoining hill areas to look for the people reported missing by the two tribes.
Thadou leader Michael Lamjathang Thadou has said his community is not part of the Kuki tribe. He said the Thadou tribe has suffered a lot due to being wrongly identified during the Manipur violence.
Other Thadou leaders including in neighbouring Assam have been killed by insurgents who oppose peace initiatives, he has said. The Thadou Inpi Manipur asserts the Thadou as a distinct tribe, a stand that Kuki organisations oppose.
