GUWAHATI: Around 175 people have been killed and 1,108 others injured in the four-months-long ethnic violence in Manipur even as a Meitei group met defence minister Rajnath Singh and demanded the withdrawal of Assam Rifles from the state for acting in a “biased” manner.
Inspector General of Police (Operations) IK Muivah told journalists that 32 people were reported missing. There were altogether 5,172 cases of arson. These include the torching and vandalism of 386 religious structures — 254 churches and 132 temples — he said.
Talking about arms and ammunition “lost”, Muivah said, “We have recovered 1,329 arms, 15,050 ammunition and 400 bombs,” he said. A total of 360 illegal bunkers were also destroyed, he said.
The miscreants had reportedly looted thousands of firearms and a huge quantity of cartridges from police armouries during the violence. Muivah assured people that efforts were being made by the police, central forces and civil administration to restore normalcy. IGP (Administration) K Jayanta said the bodies of nine of the 175 are yet to be identified.
While 79 bodies were claimed, 96 remained unclaimed, he said, adding that the bodies had been kept at the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (28), Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (26) and Churachandpur Hospital (42).
Meanwhile, a two-member delegation of Delhi Meitei Co-ordinating Committee met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on Thursday and demanded that Assam Rifles be replaced with any other “responsible security force of India.”
It said the Meiteis’ confidence in Assam Rifles “has become very low.”
According to the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity, an influential Meitei civil society organisation, the delegation mentioned that protesting Meiteis are dealt with lathis, tear gas, rubber bullets and even bullets, but the protesting Kukis are not dealt with in a similar manner. The delegation said this led to a sense of “biased” treatment and caused anxiety and fear among the Meitei people.
It requested Singh to ensure that Assam Rifles and Army deal with both communities equally. The violence in Manipur broke out on May 3 after a “tribal solidarity march”, which was taken out against an alleged move to grant Scheduled Tribes status to the majority Meiteis.