The authorities in Manipur on Thursday handed over the bodies of 64 victims in the Manipur violence to their families under tight security. The bodies were lying in morgues since ethnic clashes broke out in the northwestern state. .
As per the report by the committee constituted by the Supreme Court to look into the violence in state, a total of 175 deaths were reported and out of them 169 have been identified.
Bodies of 60 people from Kuki community were airlifted under tight security arrangements deployed by the Manipur Police and the Army’s Assam Rifles unit. The bodies were kept at the RIMS and JNIMS hospitals.
Meanwhile, four bodies from the Meiteis community were also handed over to their families in Imphal as they were lying in a morgue in Churachandpur district, said the officials.
The Committee on Tribal Unity in a statement announced that the burial rites of the “fallen KukiZo brethren” will take place at the Martyr Cemetery at Phaijang on Friday.
The Committee also said that the handing over of the bodies denotes a “much-awaited homecoming of our fallen brothers and sisters after a long tumultuous eight months of despair, heartbreak and hopelessness” to reach their “resting place here in our homeland.”
It also expressed gratitude towards Supreme Court for, “intervening and understanding the sentiments of the Kuki-Zo communities.”
