Several district authorities and security forces in Manipur's Jiribam district on Thursday facilitated a peace meeting between the Meitei and Hmar (part of the Kuki-Chin-Zo group) communities.
During the “peace meet”, both communities agreed to work towards restoring normalcy and preventing incidents of arson and gunfire in the district. Leaders from Meitei and Hmar groups signed a resolution agreeing to a peace meeting held at the CRPF camp in the Cachar district.
Officials from the district administration, police, CRPF, and Assam Rifles attended the meeting. Representatives of other Kuki-Zo tribes, like the Paite, Thadou, and Mizo communities, also attended the meeting.
This June, Jiribam district became the latest flashpoint in Manipur's ongoing ethnic conflict between the Meitei community from the valley and the Kuki-Zo group, a Scheduled Tribe based in the hills, which includes the Hmar community.
The resolutions stated that both parties committed to offering “full cooperation to all security forces” in Jiribam, ensuring “controlled and coordinated movements,” and reconvening on August 15.
Following the discovery of the bodies of a Kuki-Zo man and a Meitei man in Jiribam within weeks of each other, the district experienced a series of arson and shooting incidents, including an attack that resulted in the death of a CRPF constable on July 14. Before June, the district had been relatively peaceful.
The arson spree that began in Jiribam on June 6 displaced over 2,000 individuals from both the Meitei and Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities. Meitei individuals were relocated to relief camps within Jiribam town, while Kuki-Zo-Hmar members fled to Assam, where they were sheltered in relief camps in the Cachar district.
In Jiribam, both Meitei and Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities are minorities, with the majority population comprising Bengali Hindus and Muslims. Among the Kuki-Zo groups, the Hmar community is notably present in Jiribam.
After the unrest, authorities and security forces have been working to facilitate peace talks with both communities. To ensure the safety of these discussions, meetings have been relocated to the Cachar district in neighbouring Assam.
