Shah urges Manipur tribal body to find alternative site for mass burial

NEW DELHI: Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday urged Kukis to find an alternative burial site for the mass burial of 35 bodies during a meeting with the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum in the national Capital, the body said in a press conference

- Prawesh Lama

The proposal, if accepted, could avoid a potential flashpoint that may result in more violence in Manipur.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, members of ITLF -- an influential umbrella body of tribal groups in Manipur -- said they would first consult people back in Manipur. ITLF spokesperson Ginza Vualzong said they met the HM in the afternoon and listed 10 demands of Kukis against the backdrop of the ethnic violence in Manipur that has claimed at least 152 lives and left around 50,000 displaced from their homes.

The 10 demands are: legalise the industry department land at government sericulture farm for burial, burial to take place in the government sericulture farm at S Boljang village, the Meitei commandoes should not be allowed to operate in Hill areas, early political settlement over demand for 'separate administration', return of dead bodies of Kuki-Zo communities lying in Imphal to their home districts, demand for helicopter service, facilitation of education services of students, construction of pre-fabricated structures for IDPs, transfer of all tribal inmates from Imphal to prisons in other states, setting up of an additional office (for) the Justice Lamba Inquiry Commission at Churachandpur.

The ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Saturday invited ITLF for talks after fresh violence broke out in Manipur after the tribal group announced its plan to organise a mass burial of 35 Kuki-Zomi people killed in ethnic violence.