In Aigejang village in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district, shootings and arson incidents resulted in the deaths of nine PEOPLE on Tuesday night. Nemcha Kipgen, a state cabinet member and Kangpokpi MLA, had his official quarters set on fire in Imphal at roughly 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, less than twenty-four hours later.
In the most recent wave of violence in the state, this incident had the highest death toll. A second significant wave of violence has hit Manipur since the original large-scale conflicts from May 3 to 5, particularly in the form of shootings and burning in areas between the Meitei- and Kuki-dominated valley and hills. Since the start of the riots in Manipur, at least 114 people have died as a result of the incident on Tuesday night.
According to the Imphal East Superintendent of Police, the event happened Tuesday night at 10:30. Aigejang is located in the Kangpokpi revenue district but is governed by Imphal East due to its location on the boundary of these two districts. Imphal East is mainly by Meiteis, whilst Kangpokpi is predominately Kuki.
Despite the fact that Aigejang is a Kuki village, the nine bodies that were found belonged to Meitei individuals who did not live in the village, according to the police, who added that they were “local volunteers.”
RK Prasanta (age 28), Konjengbam Sangkar Singh (age 25), Haobijam Somenkumar Singh (age 24), Moirangthem Heman Singh (age 34), Laishram Naithobi Devi (age 32), Y. Surjitkumar (age 43), and Laishram Suresh (age 33) are the other eight. Most are from various neighbourhoods in the Imphal East district.
The remains were transferred to Imphal’s Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences after being found in the village late at night.
Since Monday, there have been frequent exchanges of fire along this border area, and locals from all around Imphal East have gathered there to “defend” Meitei-dominated areas. They kept pouring into the region into Tuesday night, some of them carrying weapons.
The incident that resulted in the nine deaths, according to a source in the defence, happened when these volunteers began travelling towards the Kuki villages that evening at around six o’clock. In the previous Monday conflict, a nearby village in the Kangpokpi district had already been destroyed by fire.
“Most of the inhabitants of these villages had already left the area after noticing a significant movement of people from a certain community in the area… The arson attempts resumed at around 6 o’clock. In a short period of time, they quickly proceeded across the lower foothills and upper regions, burning down eight towns. This is what sparked the gunfire from the hillside, he claimed.
“Twelve of us went to deliver food to the volunteers who were camping at one of the villages in the Khamenlok area,” one of the injured who was receiving treatment for multiple bullet wounds stated. When we arrived, we were instructed to remain inside the church while some of the volunteers went to call additional volunteers. It was drizzling a lot. Then, all of a sudden, we came under fire from one side, followed by another group firing at us from the opposite side. We were totally encircled and defenceless. There were quite a few volunteers away from where we were. He did not want his identity revealed.
In Imphal West’s Lamphel, miscreants set fire to Kipgen’s official quarter on Wednesday night. As the minister for the departments of cooperation, commerce, and textiles, Kipgen is a BJP legislator. One of the 10 Kuki-Zomi MLAs for the state, she hasn’t been in Imphal since the unrest started last month.
