After a "mentally ill" woman, a class XII student and a police commando became the latest victims of violence in Manipur who died after being hit by bullets fired by suspected Kuki insurgents in Bishnupur district in two separate incidents on Friday.
Sources said the student, Mayengbam Ricky Meetei, was on his way to a relief camp where his mother is taking shelter due to the ongoing violence. He was a student of Moirang Multipurpose Higher Secondary School.
Police officials in Imphal said the youth, aged about 18, was injured in a firing by unidentified miscreants near Kwakta sericulture complex in Bishnupur district around 2:30 am and subsequently succumbed to injury.
The victim was a resident of Kwakta but his parents took shelter in a relief fearing violence. He and his father had gone back to home and Ricky was coming back to visit his mother when the incident took place, sources said.
As the news about Ricky's death spread, students of his school staged a protest in front of the school in the afternoon demanding justice. They held placards with slogans, "We want peace" and "Stop Killing Students".
The students said many students have died while the ongoing violence for the past two months has severely affected education in the state.
A commando of Manipur police, identified as Pukhrambam Ranbir succumbed to the bullet injury he sustained in a gunfight with suspected Kuki insurgents at Phoujakhai area in Bishnupur district at around 5pm. The commando, father of a one-year-old child, died while being rushed to Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal.
Police said they suspected the involvement of the Kuki insurgent group in the firing, which continued in the area for hours.
The incident took place a day after a "mentally ill" Kuki woman was killed by unidentified gunmen near a school in Imphal West district. Kuki organisations alleged the involvement of "armed miscreants" belonging to the Meitei community.
Over 120 people have been killed and more than 60,000 others have been displaced due to the clashes between the Metei and the Kuki communities since May 3. The security forces have been carrying out combing operations to stop the violence but the state continues to report similar incidents almost daily.
Peace convention
At least 10 Opposition political parties organised a peace convention at Imphal on Friday, which held CM N. Biren Singh responsible for the violence. They demanded Singh's immediate removal for restoration of peace and normalcy. The convention also condemned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence over the situation in Manipur.
The parties are CPI, CPI (M), Forward Block, RSP, JD (U), AAP, Trinamool Congress, NCP and SS (UBT).