India police arrest 23 after violence erupts in northeast state of Manipur

Protests erupted after six bodies, believed to have been kidnapped from the Meitei community were recovered on Friday.

Police in the northeast Indian state of Manipur have arrested 23 people for ransacking and setting fires to the homes of lawmakers and ministers in the capital Imphal as protests erupted on Saturday following the discovery of six bodies.

Protesters are demanding accountability for the attacks in the region after the six deceased, believed to have been kidnapped from the Meitei community, were recovered on Friday.

Since May 2023, intercommunal clashes between the Hindu Meitei and Christian Kuki communities have resulted in at least 250 deaths and displaced 60,000 people in the region.

The bodies of a woman and a two-year-old child, believed to be members of a missing Meitei family, were found in a river on Sunday. A Kuki man’s body was also found on Sunday, but authorities are yet to confirm the cause of death; however, they said it “could be linked to the violence”.

Tensions in Manipur flared last week when a 31-year-old woman from the Kuki tribal community was burned alive. Kuki groups have blamed Meitei rebels for the attack.

A senior state police official told the Reuters news agency on Sunday that the situation in the area was “relatively calm today but unpredictable”. The police also imposed an indefinite curfew on Saturday and suspended internet and mobile services.

Police said they fired tear gas shells to disperse the mob as eight people were injured in the violence that continued for a second day. They added that more security forces were deployed to the northeastern state.

‘Deeply disturbing’

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Manipur, which has been wracked by ethnic violence for more than a year and a half. Modi has not visited the state since violence erupted last year after Kukis protested against the inclusion of dominant Meitis as a Scheduled Tribe, which makes them eligible for government affirmative-action programmes.

“The recent string of violent clashes and continuing bloodshed in Manipur is deeply disturbing. After more than a year of division and suffering, it was the hope of every Indian that the Central and State governments would have made every effort at reconciliation and found a solution,” Gandhi posted on X.

“I urge the PM once again to visit Manipur and work towards restoring peace and healing in the region.”

The National People’s Party (NPP), an ally of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), announced on Sunday its withdrawal of support from the state government after citing the failure of Manipur’s Chief Minister N Biren Singh to resolve the crisis in the area.

Internet services were shut down for months in Manipur last year during the outbreak of the violence.

The ongoing conflict means Manipur has become divided into two ethnic enclaves: the Meitei-controlled valley and the Kuki-dominated hills.