IMPHAL: Fighting between Hindus and Muslims in the remote northeastern state of Manipur resulted in the death of more than 100 people. Reports from the area told of villages and neighborhoods set on fire and hundreds of wounded,
At least 20 women and children have died in the violence and hundreds are said to have fled to temporary shelters set up in schools in Imphal.
Schools were ordered closed early for summer vacations because of the violence.
One account said the fighting began after a Muslim arms smuggler rebuffed Hindu rebels when they went to him for weapons. Another report said the trouble exploded on Sunday when young Hindu insurgents demanded money from a Muslim neighborhood near Imphal. The Muslims resisted, killing one of the Hindus and seriously injuring three, the report said.
The violence has come at a time of renewed activity by anti-India “insurgents in the borderlands of ‘Manipur and Myanmar, for the last two months, Naga rebels have been in control of a stretch of a National highway between Imphal and Moreh, a frontier town.
Only vehicles that have heavy any secondary able to go through.
Although the state government says I has reasserted its authority in the area, news reports from there Say the insurgents remain firmly in control,
Manipur, with 1.8 million people, i$ home to hill tribes and plains dwellers. The plains dwellers, who number about 1.1 million and who live predominantly in the Imphal Valley, are known as Meiteis and worship Hindu gods. The Muslims number about 120,000 and the tribes people 500,00.
The tribes are predominantly of Naga stock, with similar tribes in the neighboring state of Nagaland and in Myanmar, formerly called Burma. Manipur became part of India after the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947.
The Indian Army troops were deployed in all sensitive areas of Manipur’s Imphal and Thoubal districts.
State Chief Minister Dorendra Singh told newsmen that the CRPF, Assam Rifles and police had also launched intensive pa trolling in the affected areas. No fresh violence had been reported from anywhere in the Valley.
In an emergency meeting held recently which was attended by all the ministers and legislators, Chief Minister R.K.Dorendra Singh took stock of the situation and directed his colleagues irrespective of party affiliation to visit the violence marred areas and hold peace meetings among the belligerent communities to defuse tension.
The Chief Secretary blamed a “section of the undesirable Clements in both the communities” for this unwarranted tragic loss of life in an orgy of unprecedented violence in the State,
The Chief Minister said two more battalions of the army would be arriving here soon in addition to the existing strength and all would be deployed to contain the clashes.
In the Indian Parliament, the Janata Dal member Syed Shahabuddin said since the statement the Home Minister made here, the communal situation had worsened,
He alleged that a whole district has come under the purview of communal elements. The JD member said the situation in Manipur has gone against 500 years of communal amity and harmony and asked the Government to spell out the steps being taken by the Center and the State Government to quell the violence, besides restoring peace and communal harmony.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 14, 1993
