Imphal: Chief Minister Biren Singh said on Tuesday that clashes broke out between the Kuki and Meitei communities on May 3 last year, triggering ongoing ethnic violence that left at least 28 people missing and as many as 1,555 injured.
According to official records, the state has received 63 cases of disappearances related to violence since May last year.
“Twenty-six of the missing persons were declared dead and the investigation of two missing persons is ongoing,” Singh said. Nine of the 63 missing persons were found alive, Singh said. He was responding to a question from Opposition MLA Surjakumar Okram, MP from Kangaboke Assembly constituency, on the last day of the state assembly.
Singh said that of the 1,555 injured, 1,429 were civilians, 88 belonged to the state police and 28 were from the Central Security Forces; among them, 334 were shot and injured. “The government has been providing financial assistance to the injured,” he added.
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Replying to a question by Opposition MLA K Megachandra from Wangkhem constituency on the status of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case of two missing students Phijam Hemjit Singh (20) and Hijam Linthoingambi (17), Singh replied: “As per According to reports, the CBI has filed charges against five accused.”
In September last year, days after mobile data internet was restored in Manipur, photos of two students, Hemjit and Linthoingambi, residents of Imphal West district who had been missing since July, went viral on social media. There are new tensions and widespread protests in Nippur state. Nearly five months later.
Regarding the reconstruction of houses destroyed in the conflict, Singh said that 139 families received 50% advance payment for the reconstruction of their houses, while 472 families were approved for new houses under the permanent housing scheme.
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On Monday, Singh informed the state assembly that a total of 221 people had been killed in ethnic conflicts since May 3 last year, of which 198 were civilians, including 20 women and eight children.
The government started providing ex-gratia payments to 114 victims while the remaining victims were being verified under ex-gratia schemes of the central and state governments, he added.Earlier, the state government announced the release of ex-gratia payments $1 million each.
Since May 3 last year, Manipur has been engulfed in ethnic conflict and more than 50,000 people have been displaced. The IDPs were accommodated in relief camps set up in different parts of the state.