The stench of dead bodies rises from a hospital mortuary in India’s northeastern state of Manipur, where families are refusing to bury loved ones killed in interracial violence last week until justice is served.
Kamlallian Ype, a 35-year-old Kuki, member of a Christian minority in the state, was among the latest to resist attackers when he was killed, his friend P. Hentinglian told AFP.
As he fled through the rice fields, a group of Meiteis, a predominantly Hindu tribe, Kamlallian Ype, “was hit by a bullet in the back and collapsed”.
“They went up to him and shot him in the forehead at point-blank range. I’ve seen everything,” said his friend, a young man of 25, who was sitting outside the morgue with the deceased’s older sister, Siamting, 39.
Photo Arun SANKAR / AFP
Jelevi Hmingthangmoi, 30 (left), wife of Lalthansang Siekzathang and Siamting, 39, older sister of Kamlallian, 35.
Around 60 people have been killed and 200 others injured on both sides since last week, according to authorities, as inter-ethnic violence erupted, the worst in decades.
Almost 2,000 houses were burned and about 35,000 villagers were displaced.
The violence in Manipur began after a demonstration against the possibility of the Meiteis being given the more advantageous status of a ‘planned tribe’.
“Martyr”
This law, which introduces a form of positive discrimination, would guarantee quotas for public employment and university admissions.
The Meiteis mainly live in and around Imphal, the capital of Manipur. The Kukis are mostly in the hills.
This northeastern Indian state, wedged between China, Bangladesh and Burma, has long been a hotbed of ethnic tension and separatism.
Today, the families of the killed Kukis are demanding the founding of their own state.
Kamlallian Ype “misses” his widow and her four sons, according to Siamting, who adds that her family expects nothing from the Manipur government and proclaims the deceased a “martyr (…) of the tribal community”.
“What I really want now is for the tribal areas to be separated from Manipur and for the Indian government to create their own state for the tribes in the region,” she continues.
Another father of four, Lalthansang Siekzathang, a day laborer, is also in the morgue.
“Real justice will be a state independent of (the capital) Imphal, favoring only one community,” says his widow Jelevi Hmingthangmoi, 30.
“A Tribal Land”
Together, the two women say they will not proceed with the burial until the government approves their request.
“He died defending our country,” Siamting recalls, “since our demands are not met, he remains in the morgue.”
Villagers reported that Meiteis gangs armed with guns and gas cans attacked Kuki villages in the hills.
According to Hentinglian, the village his friend was defending had been attacked “by police squads fighting alongside about 200 Meiteis.”
“The commandos led the attack with automatic rifles and some Meiteis carried pistols,” he said.
AFP has been unable to independently confirm his account and has asked Manipur Police Authorities for comment on the matter.
The state police had previously been accused of bias in favor of the Meiteis by Kukis evacuated to army camps.
“More than 15 of our people were killed. There will be no funerals until the Indian government responds to our demands,” Mary Jones, director of research and conservation for Zo Identities, an organization that promotes tribal cultures, told AFP. “We want the government to give us a separate state away from Manipur. It would be tribal land. »