GUWAHATI: Parts of Manipur continued to remain tense amid gunfire.
For the second straight day on Tuesday, an exchange of gunshots was reported from the border of the Kuki-majority Kangpokpi district in the hills and the Meitei-majority Imphal East district in the Imphal Valley.
Sources said two groups of unidentified gunmen were engaged in a fierce gunfight at Khamenlok, a foothill area. A similar gunbattle at the same place on Monday had left some people injured.
When reports last came in, the gunfight was continuing. Casualties, if any, were not known.
Chief Minister N Biren Singh reiterated his appeal to people to maintain peace.
“Let’s give peace a chance and keep your faith and confidence in the state government and the Centre. People are suffering,” Singh had said on Monday.
He also said that the state and central governments were doing their best to tackle the situation and bring normalcy. He assured that the government would protect the lives of people from militant attacks.
Singh announced that the government would build prefabricated homes for those displaced by the ethnic violence.
On June 11, government spokesperson and minister Dr Sapam Ranjan said altogether 50,648 affected people were lodged in 349 relief camps set up in the Imphal Valley and some hill districts.
Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is likely to visit Manipur for the second time in four days on Wednesday and meet leaders from the Kuki community. He had met the CM, ministers, BJP leaders, and representatives of some Meitei organisations the last time.
Nearly 100 people have lost their lives in the violence which broke out on May 3 after a “Tribal Solidarity March” organised by a tribal students’ union to oppose the move for the inclusion of Meiteis – the state’s largest community – in the Scheduled Tribes list.