The situation in and around the border town of Moreh in Manipur remained tense for the second successive day on Sunday following the ambush on a police team on Saturday afternoon and the subsequent gunfight between state police personnel and unidentified armed miscreants.

Amid the volatile situation, a leading Kuki-Zo organisation on Sunday asserted that the unrest would “continue in the state as long as armed Meitei forces were posted in tribal areas”.

The untoward incidents of the past two days ensure Manipur steps into the New Year amid tension and uncertainty with the BJP-led governments, both at the Centre and in the state, still unable to end the strife that started on May 3, a phase chief minister N. Biren Singh in a New Year message on Sunday described as “one of the worst phases in its history”, having “directly or indirectly affected everyone residing in the state”.

A police commando was injured in the ambush on Saturday afternoon on the outskirts of Kuki-Zo majority Moreh town in the Tengnoupal district bordering Myanmar and in the resultant police action. Kuki-Zo organisations alleged that three houses were burnt down in Moreh, fuelling tension in the area.

A Moreh resident said a meeting was held on Sunday between security forces and representatives on how to calm the situation. The government also transferred the Tengnoupal SP to Senapati. Curfew has been reimposed in Moreh.

The resident said that given the distrust between the two communities, the Kuki-Zo people always advocated the deployment of neutral forces by withdrawing Meitei police or security personnel to ensure peace.

Reacting to Saturday’s firing between “unidentified gunmen and Meitei commandos”, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), a conglomerate of recognised tribes in Kuki-Zo majority Churachandpur district, said some state police commandos suffered injuries and retreated into the Assam Rifles camp. The commandos then fired indiscriminately at the Lhangkichoi Veng and allegedly burnt down three civilian houses.

Condemning the burning down of the houses by personnel “who are supposedly posted in the area to maintain peace and prosperity”, the ITLF said the latest incident again highlighted the fact that tension and violence would continue as long as Meitei forces were posted in tribal areas during an ethnic conflict involving two sides.

The Kuki-Zo people mostly live in the hill districts and the Meiteis live in the valley districts. The months-long unrest has left at least 195 dead and over 67,000 displaced till date.

Biren Singh, in his New Year message, said the “unprecedented ethnic conflict has, directly or indirectly, affected everyone residing in the state. It has also disrupted the fabric of peaceful co-existence among different communities, which had been a symbol of unity in diversity for long”.

Editor gets bail

Wangkhemcha Shyamjai, the editor of a daily eveninger, arrested on Friday for allegedly “publishing instigating and unverified news items” amid the ongoing unrest, was granted bail by an Imphal court on Sunday.

After hearing both sides and a perusal of the case diary, the court granted bail on the ground that the accused
was a senior citizen, was “deeply rooted in society” and had a heart condition, all of which did not make him a flight risk. There was also “no chance” of him “hampering or tampering the investigation” and he was willing to cooperate with the investigation and furnish a surety bond, the court noted.