Instal permanent security post : Kwatha Khunou
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, March 12 2024:
Villagers of Kwatha Khunou located close to Myanmar border in Tengnoupal district have made it clear they would not go back to their village until a permanent security post is opened there.
Speaking to media persons at Manipur Press Club here this afternoon, Kwatha Khunou village chairman Ningthoujam Manihar said that Kwatha Khunou is located around 7 Kms away from Kwatha Khunjao, and it is a small village inhabited by just around 42 people of 13 households.
Women and children of the village were seeking refuge at Kwatha Khunjao and other safer places every now and then since a violent crisis erupted in neighbouring Myanmar in March 2020, Manihar said.
Most of the villagers have been taking shelter at Kwatha Khunjao and other safer places after a violent conflict erupted in the State on May 3, 2023, he said.
"We are facing several challenges and difficulties at multiple levels.
Myanmar army as well as rebels often visited the village, and Assam Rifles could not protect us fully.
There is no permanent security post in the area", Manihar said.
It would be too risky for the villagers to go back to Kwatha Khunou until and unless a permanent security post is opened there, said the village chairman.
Kwatha Khunou village secretary Laishram Sanjoy said that the house of the village chief and another house were burnt down by unidentified persons in the night of March 10 .
Earlier, all the household articles and properties were stolen by unidentified persons, he said.
But Chief Minister N Biren had the audacity to dismiss the arson by nonchalantly claiming that it was burning of abandoned houses, he decried.
"Everybody knows why we are taking refuge at safer places, away from our homes", Sanjoy said.
"Kwatha Khunou villagers are generally humble, peace-loving and hard-working but we are also protecting the State's boundary", he said.
"We were informed that the two houses were torched by three individuals.
We could not prevent the arson but the three individuals ran away on seeing Molphei villagers", Sanjoy said.