Govt urged to arrest killers of 13 people
Source: Chronicle News Service

Guwahati, December 07 2023: The Global Manipur Federation (GMF), a platform of Manipuris residing in some foreign countries, has demanded that the state government apprehend those responsible for killing 13 people on a single day in the restive state recently.

A total of 13 people were killed on December 4 at Leithao village in Tengnoupal district, which shares a porous border with Myanmar.

"Global Manipur Federation urges the Government of Manipur to officially recognise these individuals as martyrs and calls upon the authority to employ all necessary legal measures to apprehend the perpetrators responsible for this mass killing," the organisation said in a statement.

Condemning the killing, the fed-eraion expressed condolences to the families affected by the killing.

The organisation stated that the victims, some still in their teenage years, fell victim to a massacre perpetrated by militants.

The GMF, headquartered in South Korea's Suwon, also claimed that many of the victims were Internally Displaced People (IDPs) residing in different relief camps set up across the strife-torn Manipur.

The organisation appealed to the state and central governments to undertake confidence-building measures towards ending this crisis and bringing a durable peace at the earliest.

More than 180 people were killed since the violence erupted on May 3 after a Tribal Solidarity March' was organised by All Tribal Students' Union Manipur in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley, while tribals, which include Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside mainly in the hill districts as well as in the plains.

(With inputs from PTI) .

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