Manipur mobs burn empty houses in Moreh, buses in Kangpokpi

MANIPUR – A mob set afire at least 30 houses and shops and engaged in a shootout with security forces in Manipur’s Moreh district on Wednesday, officials said.

The abandoned houses were in the Moreh Bazar area close to the Myanmar border.

Following the arson, a gun battle also broke out between the miscreants and security forces, officials said adding that it is not yet clear whether there was any casualty.

The incident came a day after two buses used by security forces to transport personnel were set on fire by a mob in Kangpokpi district, the officials said.

The incident occurred at Sapormeina when the buses were coming from Dimapur on Tuesday evening.

No casualty was reported.

Locals stopped the buses bearing Manipur registration numbers at Sapormeina and insisted that they would check if any member of another community were on board, the officials said.

Some of them set the buses on fire.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister N Biren Singh said construction of temporary houses at Sajiwa in Imphal and Yaithibi Loukol in Thoubal district is nearing completion.

“Very soon, families from relief camps will be able to move into these homes. The state government is taking up all possible measures to rehabilitate the people affected by the recent violence, both in the hills and the valley,” Singh said in a Twitter post.

The chief minister had last month said that his government will build 3,000-4,000 pre-fabricated houses to accommodate people who had to flee from their houses because of ethnic strife in the northeastern state.

Ethnic violence broke out in the northeastern state nearly three months ago, killing over 160 people since then, and injuring hundreds.

The violence erupted on May 3 after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley, while tribals, which include Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside mainly in the hill districts.