Warring ethnic groups have engaged in a new skirmish in remote northeast India, leaving at least nine people dead and many injured, officials said.
According to L., security forces rushed to the village of Khamnluk in the Kangpukpi district of Manipur state after clashes broke out between the communities of Koki and Mitte on Tuesday evening. Suchendru, minister in the state government.
Police found nine bodies early Wednesday morning, the police officer said, noting that three people were missing.
The violence began last month following protests by more than 50,000 Koki and other tribal communities, mostly Christians, in Churachandpur and surrounding areas of Manipur state.
Koki and local Christians oppose most of the Hindu community’s demands for special status that would give them benefits, including the right to cultivate forest land, access to bank loans at low interest rates, and a set share of government positions.
Opposing these demands, the leaders of the Koki community argue that the Mitte are relatively well off and that giving them additional privileges would be unfair.
The Mitte community responds that employment quotas and other benefits for cookies and others will be protected.
Two-thirds of the state’s 2.5 million residents live in the valley, which makes up almost 10 percent of the state’s total area.
The Mete’s ethnicity is Hindu, while rival groups, including the Ruqaiya Kuki group and others, are mostly Christian and live mostly in the nearby mountainous areas. At the same time, Muslims make up about 8 percent of the population of the state.
Source: AP
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