Joint Philanthropic Organisation's (JPO) rally in Manipur's Churachandpur district on Tuesday.
Credit: X/@Chhotu_Vasava
Guwahati: Attired in black, hundreds belonging to Kuki-Z0-Hmar communities took to the streets in the Kuki-dominated Churachandpur district of Manipur on Tuesday to register protest against the killing of 10 persons belonging to the Hmar community on November 11 in Jiribam and demanded an inquiry.
The rally was organised by the Joint Philanthropic Organisation and the protesters followed the empty coffins as they marched silently on the streets. Those who attended included a large number of students above class X. The protesters also sought action against those who had killed a Hmar woman in Jiribam on November 7.
The protesters said that those killed were not insurgents as claimed by Manipur police but innocent "village volunteers," who were there to protect the Kuki-Zo-Hmar villages from attacks by the Meitei insurgents and the state police. But police said the 10 were "armed insurgents" and were killed in "retaliatory action" after they attacked a CRPF camp and Borobekra police station, where some Meitei persons were taking shelter. During the gunfight on November 11, two Meitei displaced persons were found dead while six others (women and children) had gone missing. Bodies of the six were found in a river later, triggering violent protests in the Meitei-dominated Valley.
The Kuki-Zo protesters demanded the government hand over the post-mortem reports of the 10 bodies to them.