Fresh Violence Erupts in Manipur’s Bishnupur District
4 August, 2023 | Anamika Singh Parihar
Ethnic violence in Manipur escalated to 23 injuries in Bishnupur, following a march by female protestors to avoid mass burial of 35 victims.
Roughly three months after ethnic violence initially broke out in Manipur on May 3, 23 persons were injured on Thursday as a result of the fresh unrest in the state. The violence took place in Bishnupur, where hundreds of female protestors launched a march to “avoid” the mass burial of 35 victims of the festering violence in Churachandpur.
The burial had been earlier scheduled but was postponed due to intervention from Union Home Minister Amit Shah and an order from the Manipur High Court maintaining the status quo at 6 am on August 3.
21 people, many of them women, were injured in the altercation between the protestors and the central security forces, who retaliated with tear gas shells and mock bombs. A large quantity of weapons and ammunition were allegedly taken by the mob from the 2nd India Reserve Battalion’s armory in Naransena, in the state’s Bishnupur district.
In a different incident, an unidentified guy opened fire at Senjam Chirang in the Imphal West district early in the morning, wounding a Manipur Rifles jawan and another man.
In the districts of Imphal West and Imphal East, the violent clash erupted between the mob and the security forces. Hundreds of protesters tried to attack the battalion headquarters of the 2nd and 7th Manipur Rifles, demanding weapons and ammunition. The attack was repulsed by the forces. Authorities had to reinstate a complete curfew in both areas as a result of the violence.
After the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum stated on August 1 that it would memorialize 35 individuals who had died in violence since May 3 at the Peace ground at Tuibuong, followed by a burial ceremony at S Boljang village, tensions in Bishnupur increased.
On August 3, at around 11 am in the morning, a sizable contingent of ladies hailing from various areas of the Imphal valley assembled at Phougakchao Ikhai hamlet in Bishnupur, protesting to oppose the burial in the nearby hill district of Churachandpur. They made an effort to get passed the central security force’s guarded buffer zone.
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