Mob Tells CRPF Soldiers To Get Down, Sets Bus On Fire In Manipur’s Kuki Dominated Kangpokpi, Say Police

Imphal/Guwahati: Soldiers of a central paramilitary force were told to get down from a bus in which they were travelling and the vehicle was set on fire by a mob in Manipur’s hill district Kangpokpi on Monday night, the police said. A fire truck immediately doused the blaze. No one was injured, the police said

A case has been filed against unknown people with the police station in Kangpokpi, 45 km from the state capital Imphal. The incident happened at 9 pm.

Police sources said they have questioned some suspects in the Kuki-dominated district. The bus carrying soldiers of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was on hire and it was registered in the name of an individual from the valley-dominant Meitei community, police sources said.

The mob’s action was a retaliation to the burning of two trucks in Meitei-dominated Bishnupur district last week, sources said, adding the trucks were carrying construction material to build a bridge in Churachandpur, another hill district.

The bus was taking the CRPF personnel to the Kangpokpi district commissioner’s office, where they have been posted ever since the Lok Sabha elections ended, when the mob stopped them.

Yesterday, 60 trucks carrying fuel, medicine, baby food and other essentials were stranded for a day on Manipur’s second lifeline (National Highway 37) that connects Imphal with Cachar in Assam, after protesters from the Kuki tribes blocked a bridge in Jiribam, 240 km from the state capital.

Civil society groups of the Kuki tribes had said it was a counter-blockade to members of the Meitei community setting the two trucks on fire last week.

The highway blockade was cleared by the security forces today.

The ethnic clashes between the Meitei community and the Kuki-Zo tribes began over cataclysmic disagreements on sharing land, resources, affirmative action policies, and political representation, mainly with the ‘general’ category Meiteis seeking to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category. Over 220 have been killed, and more than 50,000 have been internally displaced.