Daily life came to a standstill in Manipur’s Churachandpur district on Friday as members of a tribal group enforced an indefinite shutdown in protest against an elderly Kuki woman's killing. The call for a shutdown was made by the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum.
Shops, markets, and other commercial hubs were closed, and traffic movement was disrupted across the district as protesters, including women affiliated with the ITLF, staged road blockades. Wielding sticks during the demonstrations, protesters voiced their anger over the killing of 77-year-old Hoikholhing Haokip, who is said to be the wife of village chief of Langchingmanbi in Churachandpur.
The woman lost her life during an exchange of gunfire between security forces and unidentified armed assailants on Thursday evening. The confrontation reportedly occurred during a security operation in the Langchingmanbi and Heichanglok regions. Gunmen are said to have opened fire on the approaching personnel, triggering a retaliatory gunfight in which Haokip was fatally struck.
The operation was conducted in response to an earlier incident of shooting wherein a 60-year-old farmer Ningthoujam Biren was shot in the left arm by armed miscreants on Thursday. He was working in the fields in the valley district of Bishnupur when shots were fired from the surrounding hills.
Attendance remained thin at even government offices, and schools were shut down as a result of the protest, according to local officials.
The ITLF demanded decisive intervention by the central government to safeguard tribal communities and their ancestral lands. The group also called for a transparent, independent inquiry into breaches of designated buffer zones in violence-hit areas.
A separate 24-hour shutdown was also initiated in Kangpokpi district from 1:00 PM on Friday. This was jointly supported by the Committee on Tribal Unity and civil society groups from Churachandpur.
The Kuki Women Organisation for Human Rights (KWOHR) had also condemned the incident, calling it "brutal" and "a grim reminder of the ongoing ethnic cleansing and targeted violence" against the community. KWOHR also alleged that the woman was "shot dead by Meitei militants".
Ethnic tensions between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities, which erupted in May 2023, have so far claimed more than 260 lives and displaced thousands.
The central government imposed President’s Rule in Manipur on February 13, following the resignation of Chief Minister N. Biren Singh. The state assembly has since been placed in suspended animation, although its term runs through 2027.
(With inputs from news agency PTI.)