A day after Meitei and Hmar groups in Manipur’s Jiribam district held talks to reach an agreement to make efforts to restore normalcy in the district, a fresh incident of arson took place on Friday night in which a house of a Meitei family was burnt. The incident took place in the Lalpani village of Jiribam, a Bengali-majority locality that is close to a Kuki village called Sejang.
As per the police, miscreants took advantage of security lapses in the area and fired shots before setting the abandoned house on fire.
"It is an isolated settlement consisting of few Meitei houses, and most of those were abandoned after violence broke out in the district. Miscreants took advantage of security lapses in the area to commit the arson," news agency PTI quoted an official saying.
The armed miscreants, who are yet to be identified, also fired several rounds of shells and gunshots, targetting the village, the official said.
Soon after the incident was reported, security forces were rushed to the spot. "We sent a combined team with the CRPF. There was some provocation but we have controlled the situation without further escalation. We are meeting to deliberate on how to prevent the recurrence of such incident," Jiribam SP M Pradip Singh said, according to a report by Indian Express.
The Peace Agreement
On Thursday, representatives of the Meitei and Hmar communities met at a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) facility in adjoining Assam's Cachar and reached an agreement on three key resolutions. This included that both sides would make full efforts to bring normalcy and prevent incidents of firing and arson. They also agreed to cooperate with security forces operating in the Jiribam district and to facilitate controlled and coordinated movement.
The meeting was moderated by the Jiribam district administration, Assam Rifles and CRPF personnel. Representatives of nine civil society organisations from Jiribam-- including Thadou, Paite and Mizo communities-- participated in the talks.
The next meeting was scheduled to be held on August 15.
Manipur Unrest
Over 200 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic violence between Imphal Valley-based Meiteis and adjoining hills-based Kuki-Zo groups since May last year. Thousands had to leave their homes and relocate to relief camps due to incidents of arson by both sides.
Ethnically diverse Jiribam, which was largely untouched by ethnic clashes in Imphal Valley and adjoining hills, erupted in violence after a mutilated body of a farmer was found in the fields in June this year. A CRPF jawan was also killed in an ambush by militants in mid-July.