Fresh Violence Erupts in Manipur's Kamjong District, Houses Torched

IMPHAL: Fresh violence hit Manipur’s Kamjong district on Wednesday after unidentified attackers set fire to more than 20 houses across three villages in separate incidents. The miscreants torched Phaimol, a Kuki village near the India-Myanmar border, before a suspected retaliatory attack targeted Tangkhul Naga villages, officials said. At around 12:30 pm, unknown miscreants set fire to Phaimol, located about 45 km northeast of Chassad police station near the India-Myanmar border pillar no. 113. Officials said the village had already been vacated due to prevailing tensions, with residents taking temporary shelter at Aishi village, where an 11 Assam Rifles camp is stationed. All 15 houses in Phaimol were reduced to ashes, officials said, while the village church was left untouched. In an apparent retaliatory attack, armed miscreants suspected to be Kuki militants set ablaze Shangkhalok, a Tangkhul Naga village near border pillar no. 101, at around 1:45 pm. Security forces intervened promptly, preventing the village from being completely destroyed, officials said. Several structures were damaged, including small thatched houses belonging to Myanmar refugees and a few houses belonging to Tangkhul residents. Seven Tangkhul houses were partially burnt, but saved from complete destruction, while another seven to eight houses remained unaffected, officials said. In another incident, suspected Kuki militants set fire to seven houses at Huimine Thana, a Tangkhul Naga settlement located between Shangkhalok and Phaikoh in Kamjong district. No casualties or injuries were reported, police said, adding that investigations have been initiated to identify those responsible. The Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM) condemned what it called the burning down of Phaimol and alleged the attack was carried out by armed cadres of the NSCN-IM and the Shanni Nationalities Army (SNA), an armed group operating from Myanmar. “The attack on Phaimol is not an isolated one,” KIM said, alleging repeated attacks “reveal a disturbing and sustained pattern of violence against Kuki habitations.” KIM questioned how NSCN-IM cadres, despite being under a ceasefire agreement with the Government of India, are “repeatedly involved in attacks on civilian villages without meaningful action being taken,” and urged the Union government, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Government of Manipur and security agencies to “act decisively before more innocent lives and villages are lost.”