Village chief sheds light on N Boljang gunfight
Source: Chronicle News Service

Kangpokpi, June 23 2023: Even as the Union Home Minister has convened an all- party meeting on June 24 to discuss the situation in Manipur, vio-lence continued unabated in the peripheral areas of Kangpokpi district.

On June 21 around 6:.00 pm, armed mis-creants suspected to be from the valley attacked Tangnaum village, formerly known as Haraothel, in Kangchup Geljang subdi-vision of Saitu AC in Kangpokpi district.

The miscreants resorted to unprovoked firing from Kanto Sabal, which is a Meitei village, and wounded one Indian Army soldier, who was evacuated to the military hospital at Leimakhong.

Barely, one- and -half hour after the firing incident at Tangnaum village, another Kuki village Mongneljang, in Saikul sub-division in Kangpokpi was also attacked by armed miscreants around 7.30 pm.

Early morning on Thursday, Meitei mis-creants attacked the 44 Assam Rifles at N Boljang village under New Keithelmanbi Police Station.

N Boljang, consisting of around 20 houses, is a Kuki village locat-ed in the peripheral area under Kangchup Geljang Sub Division.

The village chief, Thanglun Haokip, in contrary to news report, stated that the Assam Rifles personnel stationed at his village were attacked by heavily armed miscreants around 5.00 am Thursday, injuring two soldiers who were on duty at the village UJB School.

He also said that the school was also damaged owing to the indiscriminate firing, adding that his house also got hit by several bullets.

"Fortunately, despite the heavy gunfight all my villagers are safe and sound," the chief added.

He recalled that the movement of armed Meitei miscreants had been witnessed in the northern side of the village a week ago, while drone surveillance was also spotted thrice by security forces in the village.

Meanwhile, the public meet-ing held on Friday at Kangpokpi town vehemently condemned the alleged misleading media re-port.

The meeting then resolved that the proposed prefabricated houses for internally displaced persons in Kangpokpi district shall be constructed only in the affected areas.

Village chiefs, including chiefs of Kuki villages burnt down in the violence, various civil society organisations leaders and student leaders held a joint meeting under the aegis of the Committee on Tribals Unity Sadar Hills (COM), Kangpokpi district in connection with the proposed plan to con-struct prefabricated houses for the internally displaced persons.

After lengthy deliberation, COM spokesperson Rev K Sitl-hou told the media that in a bid to address the plight of all inter-nally displaced persons affected by the persisting violence, the government had announced to provide prefabricated houses as temporary shelters.

He continued that the meeting unanimously resolved that such prefabricated houses shall only be constructed in the affected areas with a provision to provide security forces so that the inter-nally displaced persons could live securely.

The meeting also con-sidered that construction of pre-fabricated houses in a safer place would not serve any purpose for the internally displaced persons and would be meaningless.

The joint meeting also con-demned the alleged misleading report of Manipur media in the strongest term, stating that such unabated one-sided and false reports would not only create misunderstandings among di-verse communities but also es-calate the violence and hatred beyond control.

He also warned that the media houses which have published or telecast the incident of N Boljang village in the wrong narrative, to apologise, failing which legal action will be initiated.

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