Three Injured As Security Forces Allegedly Use Force to End Highway Blockade in Manipur's Kangpokpi

New Delhi: At least three people were injured after security forces resorted to force to break a highway blockade by Kuki protesters in Manipur's Kangpokpi district on Monday (June 22). Personnel allegedly used tear gas, blank fire and lathi charge to disperse the peaceful gathering, reported the New Indian Express.

The incident took place in the New Keithelmanbi stretch of National Highway-37 where Kuki civil society organisations had organised a shutdown to demand a stop to the ongoing "selective security operations" reportedly targeting Kuki-Zo villages. As the protest entered its second day, large numbers of protesters congregated along the Imphal-Jiribam highway to disrupt vehicular movement in an attempt to persuade the government to immediately halt the security operations.

According to Northeast Today, tensions flared when security forces employed anti-riot interventions and aggressive crowd-control measures such as blank firing, smoke bombs and the use of wooden batons to clear the highway, triggering panic among the protesters. At least three people were critically injured during the clashes.

The blockade on the strategically significant national highways 2 and 37 was lifted later in the day following an announcement by the Committee on Tribal Unity stating that they had reached an understanding with the government, as per the Hindu. The organisation said the blockade had been ended in the interest of public safety after the Kangpokpi superintendent of police assured them that necessary commodities would be safely transported to Kuki-Zo villages.

Meanwhile, the violence altercation drew condemnation from the Kuki Inpi South West Sadar Hills, who claimed the government had remained indifferent in the face of prevalent grievances and demands from the communities. "This public shutdown was organised specifically to protest the discriminatory and targeted combing operations being conducted solely against the innocent Kuki population," the organisation said, as per the New Indian Express report.

Calling out the forceful dispersal of peaceful protesters, it added that "as a direct consequence of this unjustifiable use of force by the security personnel, three individuals sustained critical injuries." It further alleged that the ongoing ethnic confrontations were instigated by the National Socialist Council of Nagalim and its proxy Zeliangrong United Front (Kamson faction) and agitations would continue unless the authorities address their concerns.

The incident adds to the brewing ethnic tensions in the district over the past few weeks. Earlier on June 5, an armed attack in Loibol Khullen village in Kangpokpi's Saitu-Gamphazol subdivision had left three people dead and seven homes torched. On June 10, security forces had recovered the mutilated bodies of six Naga nationals in the district following their abduction from the Leilon Vaiphei village on May 13. Nearly three years after violent ethnic conflict broke out in Manipur on May 3, 2023, thousands continue to live in relief camps as incessant unrest and uncertainty plagues the state.

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