Heart-breaking to see homes reduced to ashes: Victim
Source: Chronicle News Service

Jiribam, June 09 2024: Tears streaming down her face, Sobita watched helplessly as her cherished home was engulfed in flames by armed miscreants.

"My heart shatters to see everything reduced to ashes, how much longer must we endure this? We've all forgotten to eat or drink amidst this chaos," she lamented.

Soibam Sobita, hailing from Lamtai Khunou, a village situated on the outskirts of Jiribam district, is presently taking shelter in the relief camp opened at Bidyanagar Sports Complex in Jiribam.

She is the president of Lamtai Khunou Meira Paibi and is also actively involved in social activities in Jiribam.

Talking to this daily, Sobita said that after the attack by armed Kuki miscreants, the villagers of Lamtai Khunou, Modhupur, Narayanpur, and Harinagar feared of further assaults consequently forcing them to abandon their homes on June 6, to seek refuge at the nearby police station with the ultimate aid to get out of the village fast.

They were around 230 villagers who spent a night at the police station and then, with the help of Jiribam SP and Assam Rifles, left their village around 2:30 pm on June 7 in three/four vehicles.

They didn't bring much, just some clothes.

They were very scared as they crossed two or three Kuki villages, but finally, around 6 pm reached Jiribam town.

She also informed that as soon as they reached Jiribam, the officials arranged their accommodation in a relief camp where they heard the devastating news about villages torched by the Kukis on the same day they left.

The heart-breaking scenes were all over social media, showing the destruction in painful detail.

With tears streaming down her cheeks, she explained that despite the food provided by the District Commissioner, they couldn't eat.

The heart-breaking sight of their homes reducing to ashes had taken away their appetite entirely, she conceded.

It may be mentioned Lamta Khunou is a village recently targeted by suspected armed Kuki militants using guns and bombs.

During the attack, a shop was completely destroyed.

As a result, the villagers fled and sought refuge in relief camps in Jiribam.

The village was under the protection of CRPF and other central forces for a period of time.

However, they left due to election duties and were replaced by a small number of state forces.

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