Officials in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur had suspended internet and mobile services while also imposing an indefinite curfew on Saturday in areas where protesters had besieged politicians’ homes over deadly inter-ethnic violence.
In the most recent deaths, security forces discovered three bodies believed to be members of the majority Meitei community in a river on Friday. Meitei representatives had said they were from a family of six captured by men from the Kuki ethnic group.
About 250 people have died and 60,000 others, uprooted in Manipur since May 2023 in inter-communal clashes over government grants and quotas in jobs and education.
A senior state police official told Reuters that large numbers of protesters had gathered and had made demands to meet lawmakers in the state capital Imphal on Saturday.
Mobs raided the homes of at least nine lawmakers, according to report from security officials and the politicians.
Four residences were also reportedly vandalised. Six family members were also reported missing in the aftermath of violence on Monday when 10 armed Kuki men died during a gunfight with security forces.
Last week, a 31-year-old woman of the Hmar group within the Kuki tribal community was set on fire in the state’s Jiribam district. Kuki groups have blamed Meitei militants for this.
The government also sent extra security forces, vowing stricter action against violent members of both communities in the state of 3.2 million people.
Manipur has become divided into two ethnic enclaves: a valley controlled by the Meiteis and hills dominated by the Kukis. The areas is bordered by a stretch of no-man’s land overseen by federal paramilitary forces.
