Kuki groups postpone mass burial in Manipur after govt appeal, HC order

GUWAHATI/NEW DELHI: A proposed mass burial of Kuki tribal victims was postponed for a week on Thursday after opposition by Meitei groups triggered hectic parleys through the night between the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF), security forces, the state government, and the Union home ministry, even as high court ordered "status quo ante" at the burial site

- Utpal Parashar and Prawesh Lama

Even then, at least 30 women suffered minor injuries when Meitei groups opposed to the mass burial attempted to cross barricaded zones into Churachandpur and pelted stones at personnel of the Assam Rifles and Rapid Action Force who then used tear gas shells to disperse the mob.

On Monday, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum, a conglomerate of Kuki organisations in Churachandpur district, announced they intended to bury 35 victims from the community at S Boljiang village in Churachandpur, bordering Bishnupur district. This was opposed by Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), an umbrella body of Meitei groups that said that the proposed burial site was government land, located near the homes of Meitei families displaced in the Manipur violence, and that the very act of this mass burial would disrupt law and order and constitute a provocation.

Ethnic clashes in Manipur since May 3 have left at least 150 dead, over 300 injured and displaced more than 50,000 people. There are at least 87 bodies that are lying unclaimed in hospitals in Imphal and Churachandpur. Some have been unable to collect the bodies of their family members because they are afraid of attacks during travel in the violence torn state, while others have refuse to conduct last rites as a mark of protest.