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The Hindu
a day ago
- The Hindu
Woman killed in fresh Manipur violence
A Kuki woman was killed in Manipur's Churachandpur district on Thursday (June 19, 2025), a day after suspected extremists fired at and injured a Meitei farmer in the adjoining Bishnupur district. There were no official statements on either incident, but the Kuki Women's Organisation for Human Rights (KWOHR) blamed the death of Hoikholhing Haokip of Langchingmanbi village on Meitei militants. In the afternoon of June 18, a man identified as Ningthoujam Biren was injured after suspected Kuki extremists fired at farmers on the border between Bishnupur and Churachandpur districts. Eyewitnesses said Mr. Biren and two other farmers were working on a paddy field at Phubala in Bishnupur district when five rounds were fired at them from a hillock in the adjoining Churachandpur district. 'He was taken to the district hospital after a bullet struck his left forearm,' a villager said. The Phubala villagers slammed the government for failing to ensure the security of the farmers working close to the vulnerable 'buffer zone', which separates the Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley from the surrounding hills where the Kuki-Zos are in the majority. After the incident, angry Bishnupur locals blocked a highway leading to Churachandpur, demanding action against armed Kuki fighters. A women's group threatened a total shutdown across the Imphal Valley from Friday (June 20, 2025) if top State government officials did not visit the affected area. In a statement, the KWOHR condemned the killing of Ms. Haokip allegedly by Meitei militants. 'Despite the presence of a government-declared buffer zone intended to prevent clashes between Meitei and Kuki communities, Meitei militants have repeatedly violated and crossed the buffer line, provoking tensions and directly endangering the lives of innocent civilians,' it said. The organisation demanded the immediate arrest and punishment of the perpetrators of the crime, strict enforcement of the buffer zone with equal accountability on both sides, deployment of neutral Central forces to ensure peace and a judicial inquiry into this incident as well as all recent buffer zone violations. This was the second incident involving farmers working on fields along the buffer zone. On June 15, a confrontation between Kuki and Meitei villagers on the border between Imphal East and Kangpokpi districts sparked tension. According to the Manipur police, the Kukis objected to Meitei farmers working on a paddy field they claimed as theirs. Shooting at farmers working on fields along the buffer zone used to be frequent after the ethnic conflict between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo people broke out on May 3, 2023. Such incidents have not been reported after Manipur came under the President's Rule on February 13. The ethnic conflict left more than 250 people dead and some 60,000 others displaced.
Hindustan Times
a day ago
- Hindustan Times
Elderly Kuki woman killed in cross firing between security forces, armed men in Manipur
Imphal/Churachandpur, An elderly Kuki-Zo woman was killed in crossfire between security forces and armed men in Manipur's Churachandpur district on Thursday, police said. The incident happened when security forces launched a search operation after a Meitei farmer received gunshot wounds while working in the fields in the valley district of Bishnupur after shots were fired from the surrounding hills, they said. According to police, security personnel moved into Langchingmanbi, Heichanglok, and adjoining areas in search of the attackers. "During the course of the operation, security forces came under fire from unknown armed men and retaliated accordingly," police said. Amidst the exchange of fire, the woman, identified as Hoikholhing, wife of Langchingmanbi village chief, was found dead with a bullet injury, police said. Her body was taken to Churachandpur District Hospital for post-mortem examination. Police said a case has been registered, and investigations are ongoing. Combined security forces are continuing search operations in the region. "Every effort is being made to bring the culprits to justice at the earliest," officials said, urging the public to maintain peace and avoid circulating unverified information. Condemning the incident, the Kuki Women Organisation for Human Rights termed the incident "brutal" and "a grim reminder of the ongoing ethnic cleansing and targeted violence" against the community. In a statement by its information and publicity department, KWOHR alleged that the woman was "shot dead by Meitei militants". "The horrific killing of Hoikholhing is not an isolated act of violence, but part of a systematic and targeted campaign against the Kuki people," the group stated. Meanwhile, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum declared an indefinite shutdown in Churachandpur in protest against the killing of the woman. In a strongly worded press release, the ITLF said the shutdown would serve as a mark of mourning and protest. Earlier during the day, a farmer was shot at while he was working in the fields in the same area after armed men allegedly opened fire from the surrounding hills, officials said. Ningthoujam Biren, who was admitted to a hospital with gunshot wounds, said, "I was working in the fields when five rounds were fired." Farmers, who were working with him, claimed that the shots were fired from the nearby hills, according to officials. Located on the periphery of the Imphal valley, the vast farmlands of Phubala are surrounded by the hills in Churachandpur district on one side. Protesting the incident, locals called a shutdown in Phubala. The movement of security forces was blocked in some areas of the district, they said. Over 250 people have been killed after ethnic clashes broke out between the Meiteis, who live in the valley, and Kukis, who dominate the surrounding hills, in May 2023.
Time of India
28-04-2025
- Time of India
Meitei man held for torturing his wife belonging to Kuki community
In Manipur, police arrested Inaocha Khaidem for allegedly torturing his Kuki wife. The woman faced severe abuse from her husband and his family. Kuki Women Organisation for Human Rights condemned the violence. They reported the woman was tied up and deprived of food and water. She had previously survived an attack by a Meitei group. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Guwahati: In ethnic strife ravaged Manipur, Police on Monday arrested a man belonging to the Meitei community allegedly for severely torturing his wife, who belongs to the Kuki community.A police official said that the accused, Inaocha Khaidem, was arrested by the police after an FIR on domestic violence was registered at the women's police station in Churachandpur the FIR, it was alleged that Khaidem and his family members tortured the 21-year-old Kuki woman, who married the detainee a few years back. The woman is currently undergoing medical treatment at the Churachandpur district Kuki Women Organisation for Human Rights (KWOHR) has strongly condemned the 'barbaric and inhumane acts perpetrated against the Kuki woman by her husband and members of the Meira Paibis (women vigilantes)'.KWOHR General Secretary Kimneihoi Lhungdim said that the Kuki woman, originally belongs the Tangjing areas of Bishnupur District and residing in New Checkon in Imphal.'She endured severe physical and psychological torture at the hands of her husband and Meira Paibis. She was brutally beaten, tied to a bed with her hands and legs bound, and left without food and water for three days,' a statement of the KWOHR added that on Sunday, the woman was abandoned at Ningthoukong Gate, where a neighbour came to her aid and transported her to a Kuki-inhabited village. Upon her arrival, she collapsed from exhaustion and injuries. Her family discovered bruises covering her entire body, the result of days of extreme said that in 2023 after the ethnic violence broke out, the women had already survived an attempted murder by members of the Meitei radical group 'Arambai Tenggol', who slit her throat and left her by the survived due to the intervention of the Manipur Police and timely medical KWOHR expresses deep disappointment that the 'Meira Paibis', a group historically formed to defend the rights and dignity of women, have turned into the instruments of ethnic hatred and violence.'As the ethnic cleansing of Kuki communities by Meitei groups continues, Meira Paibis have repeatedly been complicit in acts of violence, including the rape, torture, and killing of Kuki women and girls,' the KWOHR said and urged all concerned and human rights organisations to strongly condemn these ongoing atrocities in Manipur.
