Mercenaries behind Sugnu violence: Villagers
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, June 02 2023:
Even though chiefs of Kuki villages had an understanding with Meetei residents in Sugnu and Serou area, armed mercenaries from Myanmar started firing thereby leading to large scale violence with huge casualties and destruction of properties, villagers who fled from Serou and currently taking shelter in a relief camp opened at Sanatombi High School, Keirak, told media persons.
Even though the communal violence erupted on May 3 at Torbung, both the Meetei and Kuki villages in Sugnu and Serou area lived peacefully with the formation of a peace committee under the initiative of Sugnu MLA K Ranjit.
Amidst the violence, around 90 Meetei peo-ple mainly labourers, working at different places were safely brought by Kukis up to Sugnu and handed over to MLA K Ranjit.
Being surrounded on all four sides by Kuki villages, residents of Serou lived with fear but K Ranjit took the initiative to bring out large number of Meetei people from Serou.
However, some politicians alleged formation of peace committee as main factor behind the attack by Kuki on Meetei people, the villagers noted and appealed politicians not to play petty politics at such a crucial time.