Two trucks carrying basic products such as vegetables were set on fire on Manipur’s National Highway 37 today, according to police sources. NH-37 connects Imphal, the state capital, with Jiribam, which is 210 kilometers distant near the Assam interstate border.
According to accounts, unknown persons stopped and set fire to the vehicles in the Noney neighborhood. Images from the attack show one of the vehicles on fire, with sacks of onion and other necessities burning on the road.
In a statement, the Rongmei Naga Students’ Organisation Manipur (RNSOM) claimed that “Kuki militants” were responsible for the attack. It called for a boycott of all goods coming to Kuki communities in Noney and the neighboring Tamenglong region.
“Despite the ongoing unrest, the Rongmei Naga communities have played a crucial role in restoring peace and ensuring uninterrupted supply of essential commodities… The RNSOM strongly condemns the recent attack on two trucks, opening hundred rounds of automatic fire by armed Kuki militants,” the student body of the Naga tribes said in the statement, adding it will be considered as an attack on all “Naga districts”.
It said the trucks were carrying essential commodities including rice, onion and potatoes to Longmai, Noney, and Tamenglong districts.
The ethnic violence in Manipur is between the valley-dominant Meitei community and the Kuki tribes dominant in some hill areas of the state. The Naga tribes have stayed away from the conflict.
The Kuki tribes, too, have been alleging that Meitei groups have been stopping trucks carrying essential goods from reaching Churachandpur and other remote hills where the Kuki tribes are settled.
In Manipur, groups obstructing roadways is not a recent strategy. Almost every community has used this type of protest and persuasion to get the government to agree to its requests.
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Source: NDTV
