Manipur shutdown against deaths of Kukis affects normal life in Kangpokpi

Two persons, including an Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) soldier, was killed by unidentified miscreants in Kangpokpi district on Monday

An emergency shutdown called by a Kuki organisation in Manipur to protest the killing of two members from the community affected normal life in Kangpokpi district on Tuesday.

The shutdown will end on Wednesday at 6am. (Representative Image)

The Committee on Tribal Unity, a Kuki group based in Kangpokpi (a Kuki majority district), had called for the shutdown on Monday to protest killing of two persons including an Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) soldier by unidentified miscreants in the district earlier in the day.

The shutdown affected business establishments, educational institutions and government and private offices as well. Volunteers in Kangpokpi town and other areas enforced the shutdown by preventing movement of vehicles. However, emergency services were allowed to function.

COTU is already imposing an “economic blockade” along stretches of NH2 and NH37, two national highways that connect Manipur’s capital Imphal, which is Meitei dominated. The shutdown will end on Wednesday at 6am.

“The committee is in dismay over the indifferent execution of law and order in Kuki-Zo areas. The present ethnic conflict is sponsored by the state and all state machineries are compromised,” COTU said in a statement on Tuesday.

Security officials stated on Tuesday that combing operations initiated following Monday’s killings have not yielded any significant outcome and no one has been arrested for the incident.

Manipur has been reeling under ethnic violence between Meitei and tribal Kuki communities since May 3 which has claimed 181 lives till date and displaced over 50,000 persons.